Human Rights review of Lithuania and Moldova include youth-specific recommendations

On 16 March the UN Human Rights Council adopted reports on the human rights situation in Lithuania and the Republic of Moldova. The reports are part of a review process that takes place every 4.5 years for each UN Member State, called the Universal Periodic Review, or UPR.

While young people are largely neglected or often completely invisible in the UPR, the European Youth Forum is pleased to see youth-specific recommendations included in the reports for both countries. The Lithuanian Youth Council (LiJOT) and the National Youth Council of Moldova (CNTM), in close partnership with the European Youth Forum, put forward a series of recommendations for their respective reviews. The final recommendations included in the UN reports cover a broad range of issues, including young people’s mental health, youth unemployment, youth with disabilities, and adequate funding to implement national youth policy.

We urge the governments of Lithuania and Moldova to work with their National Youth Council in implementing the UPR recommendations, as well as in monitoring and review thereafter.

While these youth-specific recommendations represent significant progress, youth rights must feature much more prominently within the UPR in order to address the considerable barriers young people face in accessing their rights. A recent UN report calls for mainstreaming youth rights in the work of existing human rights mechanisms, including the UPR.

In February 2017 the Youth Forum launched an interactive online tool in order to support youth organisations in engaging with human rights mechanisms, including the UPR. However, UN Member States must step up their efforts and involve representative youth organisations in consultation processes ahead of the periodic review, as well as pay more attention to the recommendations made by youth organisations.

Access the UN reports for Lithuania and Moldova.

Access the NGO reports of LiJOT (Lithuania) and CNTM (Moldova) submitted in partnership with the European Youth Forum.