Members of the National Youth Council, meeting at the Anguilla House of Assembly, on Wednesday, December 11, made a number of recommendations aimed at meeting the needs and demands of a growing number of young people as well as the adult population.
The recommendations covered such wide subject areas as the protection of children and the issue of substance abuse; youth unemployment and the global economic crisis; crime and violence; and access to education.
The young people, who formulated their resolutions and recommendations for Government’s Consideration – during their Seventh National Conference – were welcomed to the House of Assembly by the Speaker, Mrs Barbara Webster-Bourne. She took the opportunity to express appreciation to them for their interest in national issues, particularly those relating to themselves and hoped that they would achieve their objectives.
Mr Jerome Roberts, Minister responsible for Youth Affairs, told the young people that the Government was “establishing policies and institutional structures to improve the quality of life for everyone.” He acknowledged, however, that sometimes the youngsters found themselves marginalised from the decision-making process.
“In order to effectively avoid such unintended marginalisation, it is therefore incumbent on Government to maintain open dialogue with you,” he observed. “This can be done by agreeing on channels of communication through which the views of our youth can be heard. It also means that, as a Government, we have to respond positively to the invitation from our young people for dialogue. We must realise that, as citizens of Anguilla, young people have the same fundamental rights as any other citizen and should not be treated as any less important. Your views ought to be solicited and properly weighed so that we can be equipped with the necessary information to make good decisions about the issues that most affect you.”
Mr Roberts added that later on the Government would undertake to review the recommendations made at national conferences in previous years. The aim would be to determine what progress, if any, had been made to date in advancing those recommendations.
