Introduction
Young
people make up over half of the Commonwealth’s population, and the present and
future success of the commonwealth rests with the continued commitments and
contributions of young people in upholding and promoting the commonwealth and
its values and principles, and advancing the youth development agenda for a
relevant, vibrant, effective and prosperous Commonwealth. Consequently, article
XIII of the Commonwealth Youth Charter called for establishment of an
internationally recognised youth-led organization to mobilise, harmonise,
recognise, legitimise, utilise, and prioritise the important role of young people
in the Commonwealth. This lead to the recommendation by the Commonwealth
Eminent Persons Group to establish Commonwealth Youth Council (CYC), and
adopted by the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth,
Australia in 2011, which is established to play an integral role in advancing
the youth development agenda and the co-ordination of activities and policies
of the Commonwealth in the field of youth. The council shall work for and
represent the voice of all young people within the commonwealth.
At the Commonwealth Youth Leaders’ Conference in Chandigarh, India
(December 2010), the commonwealth youth programme supported the then Commonwealth Regional Youth Caucus representatives (RYCs) to establish
a youth led committee to draft the legal framework for the new Commonwealth
Youth Council. The first general assembly was agreed to be held during the 2013
Commonwealth Youth Forum as an official parallel youth event of CHOGM.
CYC General Assembly,
Hambantota, Sri Lanka.
As usual the Commonwealth Youth Forum was organised as a CHOGM
parallel youth event from 10-14 November, 2013, but this year’s edition was
special due to the introduction of the CYC activities: CYC general assembly and
CYC first general elections. The first general assembly of the CYC ratified and
signed the constitution of the Commonwealth Youth Council; this took place on
11th November, 2013. The CYC nominations into the executive
positions were made through an open and transparent process a month before the
general assembly. Final list of nominees were published on 14th
November, 2013. Rigorous and intellectual campaigns were made online through
different social media. Delegates at the Commonwealth Youth Forum (cyf) formed
the list of voters for the first CYC general elections, one vote per country.
However, upon arrival at the venue of the CYF, campaign debates and speeches were organised for every position. The debate for
Chairperson Position was made more rigorous with the introduction of special
panel, who threw questions to the contestants before general questions from the
assembly. There were 51 contestants vying for 9 positions, with four
contestants vying for post of the Chairperson as follows:
Chairperson position:
1.
Ahmed Adamu, from Nigeria.
2.
Kesaobaka Pharatlhatlhe, from
Botswana.
3.
Francesca Danmole, from UK.
4. Ngen Yves Riyuh, Cameroon.
The election took place on the 12th November, 2013 through
online preferential voting system. The election results were revealed on the
same day as follows:
Chairperson
|
Ahmed
Adamu (Nigeria)
|
Vice
Chairperson - Policy, Advocacy and Projects
|
Sudharshana
Lakshmi (India)
|
Vice
Chairperson - Partnerships and Resources
|
Sadham
Zarjahan (Sri Lanka)
|
Vice
Chairperson - Inclusion and Engagement
|
Mohamed
Husni (Sri Lanka)
|
Regional
Representative - Africa and Europe
|
Kiziah
Philbert (Kenya)
|
Regional
Representative - Asia
|
Tharika
Dileepani (Sri Lanka)
|
Regional
Representative - Caribbean and the Americas
|
Royden
Beharry (Grenada)
|
Regional
Representative - Pacific
|
Harry
James (Solomon Islands)
|
Representative
- Special Interest Groups
|
Wathsala
Samarakoon (Sri Lanka)
|
This
means that Ahmed Adamu from Nigeria will chair the new body, which will be the
recognized voice of more than 1.2 billion young people of the Commonwealth and
provide a framework for youth-led development initiatives. The Commonwealth
Youth Council is also the largest, biggest and most diverse youth
organization in the world. Leaders will serve a two-year term until the next
Council General Assembly in Malta in 2015.
Adamu is from Kastina State, Nigeria and a
graduate of Bayero University Kano, and he is doing his PhD in Economics, in
Newcastle University, UK. He is the Founder and Pioneer President of Youth
Participation for Progressive Development Initiative, member, Katsina State
Executive Council Committee on youth restiveness and Unemployment, December,
2011 and Secretary, Constitutional review Committee, Katsina Central
Constituency, 2012. He was also the pioneer Chief Whip of the Nigerian Youth
Parliament, and represented Nigeria in the last CYF in Australia. He published
book, and many international academic articles.
On 15th November,
2013, the installation ceremony of the first CYC executives took place in a
very big and colorful closing ceremony of the CYF, which was attended by more
than 2000 audience including special guests and the president of the Sri Lanka.
In his inaugural address, Ahmed Adamu acknowledged the daunting tasks that lie
ahead, and call for inclusive and immediate support to the council, he also
thank the people and government of Sri Lanka for their warm hospitality, he
also presented the final communiqué of the CYF to the representative of the
commonwealth Secretariat. The whole 9 days were full of cultural and social
events.
The newly elected executives
of the CYC met with all the presidents/heads of commonwealth countries in an
interactive session. Ahmed Adamu, the new CYC chair, addressed the heads of
governments by highlighting major issues of concerns raised by the youth during
the concluded CYF, he also emphasized on the need to partner and support the
CYC. In reactions, Presidents/heads of governments from Malawi, South Africa,
Malta, Malaysia, St Lucia, Nigeria, Samoa etc responded positively and promise
to support the council immediately, other heads of states who did speak at the
interactive session were also in full support of the CYC. This was demonstrated
by immediate donation of $100, 000.00 by the Prime Minister of Pakistan as a
takeoff grant to the council. The whole CHOGM events ended 17th
November, 2013.
The commonwealth youth
council, being the mother umbrella of all youth organization within
commonwealth will now be expected to harmonize and establish its
representatives in all commonwealth countries. It is also expected to
established contacts and close relationship with all heads/presidents of the
commonwealth countries, commonwealth secretariat and other commonwealth
institutions, as well as other youth development partners all over the world.
It is expected that the council will come up with line of actions and programs
for the next one year.
SIGNED:
CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON
MEDIA, PUBLICITY AND PUBLIC RELATION
