BUJUMBURA, September 28th (ABP) – The States Parties to the African Youth Charter recognize the rights of young people to live anywhere in the world and to engage in leisure, socio-educational, sporting and cultural activities, according to Articles 21 and 22 of the said Charter adopted in 2006 in Banjul, The Gambia, and enacted by the President of the Republic of Burundi, Mr. Evariste Ndayishimiye, in January 2023.
Indeed, the States Parties to the African Youth Charter are committed to promoting the equivalence of diplomas between African educational institutions, in order to enable young people to study and work in the States Parties, and to promote recruitment of young Africans with particular skills in the spirit of the search for African solutions to African problems, in accordance with national policies and priorities.
They are also committed to facilitating contacts and collaboration between youth organizations with young Africans in the diaspora, to establishing structures that encourage and assist young people from the diaspora to return and reintegrate into social life and economy in Africa, to promoting and protecting the rights of young people in the diaspora as well as encouraging young people from the diaspora to get involved in the development activities of their countries of origin.
Through article 22 of the said Charter, it was underlined that every young person has the right to rest and have leisure time, to play and to partake in socio-educational and sporting activities which are part of a healthy lifestyle, and to participate freely in sport, physical education, theater, art, music and all other forms of cultural life.
To that end, the States Parties to the African Youth Charter have the duty to take measures which allow equitable access of young men and young women to sporting, physical education, cultural, artistic, recreational and educational activities. leisure, as well as the duty to create adequate infrastructure and services in rural and urban areas to enable young people to participate in sports, physical education, cultural, artistic, recreational and leisure activities.