By decision of the World Federation of Democratic Youth, International Day of Youth Solidarity is celebrated annually on April 24. The holiday was first celebrated in 1957, and the date for the Day was timed to coincide with the final meeting of the Bandung Conference of Asia and Africa in 1955.
This memorable day serves as another occasion to draw the attention of government agencies, society and the media to the problems of youth.
Combining the efforts of youth and public organizations, large sections of the population, caring people who care about the future of their children and grandchildren allows us to strengthen public control over the observance of youth rights, helps to increase the organization and creative activity of young people in the implementation of economic, social, scientific, technical and moral problems of society, strengthening the continuity of generations, law and order.
By the way, there is no generally recognized international definition of the age group of young people. For example, the UN defines «youth» for statistical purposes as persons aged 15 to 24 years, and in Russia youth is considered to be a socio-demographic group of persons aged 14 to 35 years inclusive.
According to the UN, there are currently more than 2.1 billion young people in the world – is the largest generation of youth in history. Almost 90% of all young people live in developing countries, where they make up a significant proportion of the population.
The UN notes that the current generation of youth has the highest level of interaction. Being the most integrated into global communication networks, modern youth have great potential for establishing dialogue and organizing partnerships between countries and figures in all segments of public life – from politics to business, from science and education to civil society. The UN recognizes that young people act as catalysts for social progress and stimulate political change in their country.
At the same time, young people face enormous difficulties in trying to exercise their rights. According to the UN, one in five young people has no job, education or training. Difficulties also arise in situations of conflict or when young people leave their home to escape mortal danger or to find a better life. According to expert estimates, about 408 million young people live in armed conflict.
Whether it is easy to be young in modern society — depends on the degree of cohesion of young people in solving their problems.
As for the traditions of this holiday, it was previously celebrated very widely. On International Youth Solidarity Day, youth congresses, concerts and other festive events were held, the program of which was carefully thought out. Their main goal was — to emphasize the high goal of friendly unification of peoples, collectivism, strengthen the unity of nations, demonstrate their desire to join forces in the fight for the rights of youth, and unite young people to solve their problems. But over the years, all this has practically come to naught, and currently this date is celebrated sporadically, usually on the initiative and with the support of various youth and public organizations.
By the way, the youth of the planet have several more « of their own » holidays — International Youth Day, World Youth Day and others, including national ones. For example, Russian youth celebrate Youth Day on June 27.