Article on Participatory Constitution Building Process in Nepal and Role of Youth

Participatory Constitution Building Process in Nepal and Role of Youth:

Background:
Youth are the Present and future of Nepal. They are an indispensable part of society which can not be overlooked while making any vital decision or making new constitution Nepal. New constitution making process without active participation of youth can’t be considered. Youths are active members of the society, they can be creative, motivated and have a vital role in creation of new constitution for Nepal.
Until now the youth of Nepal have not been fully engaged in the Constituent making process. Youth are engaged in the constituent process in different way but they are not engaged for their rights. They did not raise the voice of youth, they raise the voice for political parties’ .in this context youth issue should address in new constituent. they are not addressing the needs of youth inclusion in the democratic process. And that's the GAP – not including the youth means a new democratic process will likely be sustained for one generation!
We live in era of constitution making ,close 200 national constitution in existence these times .constitution making has become part of peace process .in Nepal also consituation making process came as part of peace process . after ten years long conflict and second janaandolan for the first time in Nepal’s history,Nepalease have received an opportunity to participate in constitution building process .significant number of participant from different caste ,different ethnic groups in constitution assembly can provide ownership among the people .
Problems:
Until now the youth of Nepal have not been fully engaged in local to national level in constitution building process. Existing participatory constitution building program’s don’t interest them as they are not addressing the needs of youth inclusion in the democratic process and new constitution building process. And that's a major GAP – not including the youth means a new constitution making process will likely be sustained for only one generation!
Too often, young people are portrayed in a negative way - as gang members, as drug user (aabara) or irresponsible troublemakers seeking to inflict damage on the “adult” society. As persuasive as these views of youth may appear, they are frequently very far from the truth: the majority of the world’s youth are often more interested in leading productive and meaningful lives rather than in harming their communities. In various regions and varying situations around the world, hundreds of thousands of young people are spearheading positive social change - leading community initiatives, operating small businesses, and reshaping political processes. More can be done to nurture these productive behaviors, as young people constitute clear assets to development when they are positively empowered to be active citizens. Supporting and including young people in constitution making processes is critical for several reasons. Firstly and fundamentally, youth have experience, knowledge and ideas that are unique to their situation, enabling them to offer key insights and perspectives on development that adults cannot. Secondly, in many communities, youth make up the majority of the local population. As a result, youth voices can be crucial expressions of overall community needs. Finally, regardless of their current status, young people are the future custodians of their environments and future leaders of their peers. The lessons learned today influences the thinking of tomorrow and already the majority of youth around the world counter real world issues of childbirth, diseases and unemployment. Although “youth” by definition, they are knowledgeable about the roles government and economics play in their life and community. It is therefore imperative that young people are given opportunities to develop the values, attitudes and skills they need to actively participate and succeed in the spheres of family, workplace and community both today and tomorrow. A failure to promote youth development and roles for youth in nation bulding - will have disastrous effects on the country, both in the short- as in the long-term, if their rights will be not guaranteed in new constitution.

Current Situation of Population.
If we consider the United Nation’s definition of youth (15-24 years old), youth represents currently 20% of the world’s population, meaning more than 1 billion young people in the world. 60% of the youth population lives in the developing countries of Asia, 15% in Africa and 10% in Latin America and the Caribbean. Only 15% of the world’s youth population lives in developed regions. At the same time, half of the world’s unemployed are youth; almost 240 million live below the poverty line (1USD/day); around 7000 become infected by HIV/AIDS daily and more than 130 million do not have access to basic education; many live in rural areas or remote communities and lack access to opportunities and development resources. When looking at these figures, it becomes clear that global policies are mainly a question of development and that development policies need to have a strong youth dimension. Development can only be achieved when we live in peace and we will not have peace while social justice, gender equality and democracy are not fully implemented worldwide. In this context, education and specifically non-formal education, constitutes a means for young people to acquire the knowledge and the tools to be active and responsible citizens.
If we looked at the Nepali situation, the population of youth between the age of 15 and 29 is 6.131 millions in Nepal. This accounts for 26.5 percent of the total population. In this, the proportion of male is 48.2 and women 51.8 percent. Of the total youth population, 0.4 percent has physical or mental disability, 83 percent of the youth live in rural areas and 17 percent in urban areas. Forty percent of the total urban population of Nepal is the youth and the attraction of the youth to the cities seems to be increasing. According to the census of 2001, the literacy rate among the percent, the percentage of unemployed youth among the age group 15 to 29 is 11.4 percent. It is estimated that more than 29 percent of the population in 2011 AD will be youth
Importance of youth Participant
Youth Participation in constitution building process means the involvement of youth in responsible activities and significant decision making that affects the long term in youth generation. Participation gives youth a way to decide what is important to them, allows them to own decisions, increase their confidence and empowers them. Youth participation in decisions that affect them and the life of their community is valuable and has a range of positive outcomes for youth. In Nepalese society youth are actually excluded from full membership of the society because of their age.
Prior to the democratization of Nepal in 2046 BS, youth participation and development occurred within a context of political, social economic and cultural oppression. This situation contributed directly to many of the current dilemmas youth now find themselves in. The Panchayat government did not address the development needs of youth. The particular needs, challenges or opportunities faced by youth were ignored or not considered important enough to warrant focused policy or program interventions. After 2046 BS, governments formed a youth ministry and started some work but that was discontinued. In the second peoples movement, Nepalese youth had a vital contribution to the success of the peoples movement. More than 50 youth are elected as constituent assembly member. After the formation of a new government, the government again formed a youth and sport ministry. Recently this ministry undertakes initiatives to address the specific needs of youth and a youth task force was established to write a youth policy. In this context the UN also formed a youth advisory panel. The non-government sector has been the most active in terms of the history of youth development.
In the context of Nepalese development youth participation is still very low. In most of the cases of youth participation, we can see youth as objects: adults decide what is best for youth and allow them to be involved in situations that adult controls. Youth contributes are significant but youth a powerless position some time youth as recipients, it will create an opportunity for youth to learn from adult, which will help them when they can become adult contributors. In these days some of the development agencies and youth lead organization think of youth as partners but this is just starting and not enough. Adults need to feel that youth are important contributors, as well as allow the sharing the power.

Conclusion
One furthered characteristic of the practice of participatory constitution making is visible in many of these accounts, yet has received little concerted comment . the pressure to resolve the conflict throughout consituational conversation has often come from long term disagreements ,conflicts and wars over some combination of racial ,ethinic ,caste and territorial boundaries . where participatory consituation making has offered a forum for reconciling division and readdressing grievances,it has often also provided and opportunity for youth to gain representation in process and outcome .indeed, youth have a times beed instrumental in demanding such a consituational opening,where governance or social conditions have previously made freeentry difficult or silenced their voices .
Youth participation is a way to provide opportunities for youth to take on greater responsibilities and, ownership. The youth is the soul of a nation and can play a key role to make a constitution ,where everyone can enjoy their rights , youth should raise their voce for their rights and other marginalized community voice ,if everyone voices will heard and reflect all the different groups identity in new constitution ,only that constitution can go long term .this is unique opportunity comes to youth ,where they can make their bright future themselves , for determining the developed society ,discrimination less society ,youth should play vital role in constitution building process .

Pradip Pariyar
pradip.pariyar@gmail.com

nepal and youth