Every year on this day 12th of August, International Youth Day is celebrated. The aim is to bring the issues of the youth to the attention of the international community and celebrate the potentiality of youth as partners in today’s global society. Various events are organised across the world to spread awareness about the matter. The day is globally recognised by the UN and multiple notable personnel of the world unite to commemorate the day.
Every year this day is celebrated with a theme. This year the theme of International Youth Day is “Intergenerational Solidarity: Creating a World for All Ages”. The main goal is to spread the message that action is needed across all generations to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and leave none behind. Itl also aims to raise awareness on certain barriers to intergenerational solidarity, notably ageism, which impacts young and old persons, while having detrimental effects on society as a whole.
If we go back to the history of this day, the idea for International Youth Day was proposed in 1991 by the young people, gathered in Vienna, Austria, for the first session of the World Youth Forum of the United Nations System. The Forum recommended that an International Youth Day be declared, specially for fund-raising and promotional purposes, to support the United Nations Youth Fund in partnership with youth organizations. The 1st International Youth Day was celebrated in the year 1999.
