Adolescence

Technical and policy documents

The Participation Rights of Adolescents: A Strategic Approach
This paper aims to stimulate discussion and serve as a resource for policy makers, programmer, advocates and activists interested in promoting the meaningful participation of young people, at global, country and community levels. The paper is the result of a series of consultations with organisations and young people working to promote children’s rights, and aims to identify practical means of making the meaningful participation of young people a reality.
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Working for and with adolescents - some UNICEF examples
Working for and with adolescents is a compilation of case studies drawn from selected countries covering all regions. This is one of the first documents attempting to capture programmes with and for adolescents with a focus on participation. The experiences offer insights to the challenges, lessons learned and the need for making strategic choices in realizing the development and participation rights of adolescents.
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Adolescent Participation in Situation Assessment and Analysis
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Promoting Adolescent Livelihoods
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Why are declarations important?
Declarations are not legally-binding documents, meaning countries are not breaking any laws or rules if they do not follow them. However, these are a clear statement by governments that they have agreed on what should be done to fight HIV/AIDS and what they are committed to doing. Therefore, these declarations are a powerful tool to guide and secure action, commitment, support and resources for all those fighting the epidemic, both within and outside government.

A World Fit for Children
The documents in this small book - the Millennium Development Goals, documents of the UN General Assembly's Special Session on Children, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child - constitute an essential guidebook for all those working to improve the lives of children and young people.

The Abuja Declaration and Framework on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and other Related Infectious Diseases (27 April 2001)
In the Abuja Declaration adopted at a summit held from 24 to 27 April 2001 in Nigeria, African leaders declared that "AIDS is a state of emergency in the continent"

The Regional call for action to fight HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (25 April 2001)
This resolution adopted by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific discusses the scope of the pandemic and calls for the commitment of all groups in society to act together to combat HIV/AIDS.

The Political Declaration and Further Action and Initiatives to Implement the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (9 June 2000)
The 23rd Special Session of the UN General Assembly focused on "Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century" and took place at UN Headquarters in New York from 5 to 9 June 2000.

The Political Declaration and Further Actions and Initiatives to Implement the Commitments made at the World Summit for Social Development (30 June 2000)
The UN General Assembly convened a Special Session in Geneva in June-July 2000 to assess the achievements made at the Social Summit of Copenhagen and to discuss new initiatives. This document reaffirms the UN's commitment to focus on HIV/AIDS.

The United National Millennium Declaration (8 September 2000)
This summit was held from 6 to 8 September 2000 as part of "The Role of the United Nations in the twenty-first century", to reflect on the past work of the UN and to propose strategies to tackle current world issues. The declaration states the goal of reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS by the year 2015.

Declaration of Commitment by the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (25-27 June 2001)
The Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS describes in its preamble (paragraphs 1-36), the extent of the epidemic, the effects it has had and the ways to tackle it. The Declaration then states what governments have pledged to do - themselves, with others in international and regional partnerships, and with the support of civil society - to reverse the epidemic.