This Youth Supplement to UNFPA's State of the World Population 2008 focuses on the interactions among culture, gender and human rights and the critical importance of culturally sensitive approaches for effective development policies and programmes. The report, which is the third in a series, addresses culture as it shapes and nurtures the lives of young people and shows how young people develop their own subcultures, which are often different from and may conflict with the dominant culture. The youth report points out the value to young people of protecting the culture in which they grew up, but it also speaks on behalf of their right to embrace their own cultures in their own ways.
As in previous youth supplements, this report profiles the lives of young women and men from seven countries. They promote gender sensitivity in religious institutions (Colombia), oppose traditional harmful practices such as child marriage (Ethiopia); adapt international modern music to their own societies and use it to call for healthy behaviours (Vietnam); challenge gender stereotypes in sports (Mozambique); promote peace in place of political and armed violence (Occupied Palestinian Territory); use information and communication technologies to promote development (Mongolia), and encourage youth participation in government, even taking high office (Spain).
