Assembly/AU/Dec.250(XIII) Page 1 DECISION ON THE PROCLAMATION OF 2010 “INTERNATIONAL YOUTH YEAR” Doc. Assembly/AUl15 (XIII) Add.1 The Assembly, 1. RECOGNISES the primordial role of the youth and the need for their participation in forging the future of humankind; 2. RECALLS the African Youth Charter adopted on 20 June 2006 by the Seventh Ordinary Session of the Assembly held in Banjul, The Gambia; 3. ALSO RECALLS the Strategic Framework of Action of the 2004 New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Youth Programme which aims at youth capacity building and development; 4. COMMENDS Member States and the Commission for the activities undertaken as part of the celebration of the African Youth Year, and the efforts deployed towards the entry into force of the African Youth Charter; 5. ALSO COMMENDS His Excellency Zine El Abidine BEN ALI, President of the Republic of Tunisia, for his proposal to proclaim 2010 “International Youth Year” and to hold during the said year, under the auspices of the United Nations and with the assistance of the relevant international organizations, a World Youth Congress to be attended by youth from across the world to discuss issues of interest to the youth, and which should lead to the adoption of an International Pact that would establish the unequivocal attachment of the youth of the world to common universal values; 6. REQUESTS all Member States and the African Group in New York to give their firm support to efforts geared towards the adoption of a draft resolution proclaiming 2010 “International Youth Year” to be submitted to the Sixty-Fourth Session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in September 2009; 7. APPEALS to all Member States of the UN and other international organizations to support this initiative and contribute to its adoption when it is tabled before the UN General Assembly; 8. REQUESTS that the Commission follows up on the implementation of this decision and report to the Ordinary Session of the Assembly in 2011. Adopted by the Thirteenth Ordinary Session of the Assembly in Sirte, Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya on 3 July 2009