Free-Zim Youth to attend Lisbon summit

LONDON – Representatives from Free-Zim Youth will this week travel to Lisbon to attend the Africa-EU Youth Summit ahead of their leader’s weekend summit in Portugal.

FZY coordinator Alois Tawanda Mbawara told zimbabwejournalists.com that his group would attend the summit as part of the selected African Youth Diaspora, joining colleagues coming from other member states to discuss issues affecting the two continents and related issues.

Mbawara said FZY will join colleagues from Zimbabwe and other areas in the European Union and Africa in discussions that will come up with a position paper, which will be the youth’s final declaration to be tabled to the EU-Africa Summit of leaders.

The declaration by youths will form part of the Joint EU-Africa Strategy, which is a reference framework for EU-Africa relations over the next decade.

The three-day Africa-EU Youth Summit will focus on good governance and democracy, peace and conflict, globalisation, trade and socio-economic development, sustainable development, employment, decent work and related issues.

It will create working areas, recommendations and the final declaration. The summit will be attended by 250 representatives from youth organisations from Africa and Europe.

Nations participating in the EU-Africa Summit will all have youths from their countries attending the summit which begins today and ends on the 7th of December.
 
“FZY which also chairs the All Africa Youth Forum, will take the opportunity to submit concerns of the Zimbabwean youth linking with the measurable development objectives of Millennium Development Goals which will be a miracle with the political-economic situation in Harare,” said Mbawara.

"I think it is important that such avenues are created for the youth so as to influence policy at multilateral level. The exclusion of the youth within the decision making process, has for long been one of the major draw-backs towards sustainable development particularly in Africa,” the youth leader, who will be representing ZYM said.
 
He said youths from Zimbabwe will push for the discussion of the human rights situation in Zimbabwe, the economic situation, land reform, the SADC-Thabo Mbeki initiative and opportunity creation for the youths.

“As enshrined in the Zimbabwe Youth Charter, young Zimbabweans need socio-politico-economic participation, scholarships and related assistance if we are to talk of a re-construction and development plan,” said Mbawara.
 
"We do subscribe to the 2015 target of universal primary education, a promotion of gender equality, combating HIV/AIDS, Malaria and being part of a balanced global partnership for development.”
 
The Youth Summit has been organised by the Pan African Youth Union (PYU), the Portuguese Youth Council (CNJ) and the North-South Centre of Council of Europe.
 
Meanwhile Harare is fuming that representatives from its youth organisations have been left out by donors from attending the summit in preference for what it says are opposition youths.

In a lead story titled “MDC youths smuggled to summit”, an unnamed government source tells the Herald newspaper that a delegation of youths from the MDC and the opposition-aligned Zimbabwe Youth Movement had been flown to Lisbon for the summit.

The newspaper reveals that “Zimbabwean authorities were not amused when donors sponsoring youths attending the summit left out members of the Zimbabwe Youth Council, a recognised youth body, in preference of opposition youths”.

Said the government spokesperson: "The South Africa-based African Institute of South Africa systematically left out delegates from the Zimbabwe Youth Council, preferring to sponsor pro-opposition non-statutory bogus youth bodies such as the Zimbabwe Youth Movement.

"AISA sponsored Collin Chibango, a member of the Zimbabwe Youth Movement, who doubles as Morgan Tsvangirai’s special assistant on his foreign trips. Chibango was part of Tsvangirai’s delegation during his last visits to Britain and the United States."