About 1000 participants will take part in the opening tomorrow, August 12, 2020, Samarkand online forum on human rights on the theme: "Youth 2020: global solidarity, sustainable development and human rights."

Of these, more than 50 people represent international organizations, over 30 - regional organizations, about 30 - national human rights institutions, about 30 - international government bodies, more than 60 - international and national NGOs, over 100 - youth organizations.

The program of the two-day forum includes over 50 key speeches, 40 international speakers from 15 countries and 10 national ones are expected to participate.

During 4 panel discussions, the following topics will be considered: “Development of international standards of youth rights”, “Youth rights and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”, “Education of youth on human rights issues”, “The role of youth in ensuring peace and security: prospects for a safer of the future by 2030 ”.

One of the important events of the Samarkand Forum is the discussion of the draft UN International Convention on the Rights of Youth, which was developed by Uzbekistan on the initiative of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. This initiative was announced by the head of our state in 2017 during the 72nd UN General Assembly. There is still no international document of this level, reflecting the rights of youth, which are necessary for recognition in the modern world. It will allow assessing the potential of youth, the rational use of which will contribute to a more dynamic development of many areas.

Suffice it to give an example of underestimating the role of youth in the parliamentary sphere. Only about 2.2% of parliamentarians worldwide are under the age of 30. At the same time, this category of parliamentarians has its own vision of many issues on which legislation is being developed, and fully represents a significant part of the population - young people.

In this regard, the adoption of a special International Convention on the Rights of Youth at a high level of the United Nations will attract the interest of states around the world to the issues of youth and to give them a new level of rights in order to accelerate the development processes.

We add that the national key organizer of the Forum is the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan, represented by the National Center for Human Rights.

The Samarkand Forum is held with the support of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UNHCR Regional Office for Central Asia, the UN Development Program, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the OSCE Project Coordinator in Uzbekistan and other international partners.

Press Service
of the National Human Rights Center
of the Republic of Uzbekistan