KUNDUZ - Around 300 young Afghans gathered in Kunduz on Sunday to discuss youth’s role in peace and development, urging officials to provide more prospects for jobs and greater access to education.

“Afghan youth face problems of unemployment, drugs, violence, corruption and a lack of education opportunities,” said Ahmadullah, a youth from Qala-e-Zal district.

The conference - organized by local youth associations with support from the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) - comes on the heels of the International Year of Youth which wrapped up on 12 August. Read more about what the UN is doing for young Afghans in the latest issue of the Afghanistan and the United Nations newspaper.

Speaking at the conference, the head of the Kunduz Provincial Council, Mahboobullah Mahboob, called on authorities to hire professional, educated Afghan youth for governmental posts.

Around 70 per cent of the Afghan population is 25 years of or under, and the majority is unemployed. Youth unemployment around the world was at around 13 per cent at the end of 2009, according to the UN International Labour Organization (ILO). In South Asia, the report cautioned, the rates are unlikely to come down as an average or one million young people are expected to enter the labour market every year between 2010 and 2015.

Noting that “this generation still faces the challenges of poverty and violence,” the Kunduz head of the Youth Department, Rohullah Nazeri, urged greater appreciation of the progress and achievements made by young people.

“Afghan youth have made prominent impacts in protection of civil rights, freedom of expression and strengthening of civil society,” said Mahboobullah Saeedi, a Kunduz teen.

Also speaking at the conference, Asadull Omerkhil, the head of Kunduz Provincial Peace Committee, called on youth to play their role in the peace process and move their country toward prosperity.

The event included a photo exhibition of paintings and calligraphy literary work by young people in Kunduz.

By UNAMA Kunduz