Alan E. Palomo Villegas

(Senate of the Republic)

“Youth need to believe themselves superior, a priori. Of course they are wrong, but this is specifically the great right of youth”

Jose Ortega y Gasset.

It is common to hear that young people are the future of society, but in reality they are the present. The transition processes that this stage implies are a real opportunity for young people to consolidate themselves as responsible citizens and protagonists of history.

Undoubtedly, young people are a segment of the population that has shown that it deserves priority attention from the State, since they represent change and innovation and their great contributions to public life have been increasingly proven. At a global level, their recognition as agents of change, beneficiaries and subjects who contribute to development has grown exponentially.

And it is no wonder, since the role of youth in decision-making is increasing and there is no doubt that they provide great innovative and valuable solutions to address the great challenges we are currently facing. Their vision and perspective of things provide a different approach from which more and better solutions can be provided.

To give us an idea of the importance of youth in decision-making, according to the 2020 Population and Housing Census, 31 million people aged 15 to 29 reside in Mexico, representing 25% of the total population in the country. By age group, 10.8 million are between 15 and 49 years old, and represent 35% of the total; 33% (10 million) are in the 20 to 24 age group, and 32% (9.9 million) are between 25 and 29 years old.[1]

The gender distribution shows a slightly higher proportion of women (51 TP3T) than men (49 TP3T); in the age group 15 to 19, the percentage is similar; as for the groups 20 to 24 years and 25 to 29 years, women have a higher proportion.

As can be seen, young people have a specific weight in the demographic structure of our country, since they represent a growing population group that increasingly demands access to development, mainly in education, employment and security. It is therefore essential to recognize them as agents of change, responsible for exploiting their own potential and building a country where well-being, security and peace become essential elements for their own development and that of future generations.

From this perspective, it is important to consider a national agenda capable of taking into account their concerns and expectations and, at the same time, solving the inequalities that they have historically faced, making them a vulnerable group.

Today, young people face paradoxes that stagnate their development: they have more education, but fewer opportunities to develop fully; they have more rights, but they cannot fully exercise them; they have more information, but less access to power and decision-making; they have more creativity and technological skills, but they do not have spaces for action that allow them to develop their capacities for effective insertion in the labor and professional environment.

This is why it is necessary and urgent to have an agenda for young people that addresses the challenges of education, job availability, gender inequality, climate change, among others. And above all, that claims the fundamental role of young people in the life of any society.

An agenda that is built collectively; government, civil society organizations, academia, specialized agencies and above all, where young people participate with the objective of specifying recommendations and actions directed at the three levels of government to achieve positive changes in legislation, government programs and citizen participation, to promote the human development of youth, as well as that of present and future generations.

It is worth mentioning that this is not a problem exclusive to Mexico but to the entire Latin American region and fortunately governments have come to understand the potential of youth and have created programs to guarantee the rights of youth.

Youth in Latin America and the Caribbean are actively participating in the 2030 Agenda. For example, since 2016, the Concausa initiative, co-organized by ECLAC, UNICEF and América Solidaria, has identified 68 projects, led by more than 200 young people aged 15 to 17 throughout the Americas, that seek to address issues in their communities associated with the Sustainable Development Goals.

All these efforts help to generate agendas that make youth visible, that efficiently and effectively address their needs, that listen to them, that not only open spaces, but actually bring their ideas to life, that materialize their projects, that governments take their opinions into account, that there is quality education and jobs, that programs are continued, that there is support.

That the events of the youth institutes do not focus on RAP or Graffiti contests and that youth are not seen as a population to be taken advantage of and that only serve electoral purposes.

It is urgent to listen to the voices of young people because they know the present.

An agenda is needed that promotes, respects and guarantees the rights of this population segment, including a gender perspective and focus, an educational and cultural approach, policies that guarantee access to health and food services, with a focus on employment, and access to a healthy environment, which comprehensively supports young people, all through universal coverage policies.

[1] Information consulted in “INEGI, Population: Demography and Society 2020”, obtained from: https://www.inegi.org.mx/temas/estructura/