Challenges Of Youth Poverty: The Un Millennium Development Goals

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For many years the challenges youth struggle with have been low on the international priority list. The UN Millennium Development Goals addressed some issues, but still allowed many to fall outside of the scope of their focus. Recently the UN Population Fund committed to creating a platform on which youths voices can be heard, stating “[Further,] national and global development, security and social justice can only be achieved if adolescents and youth are included as full and active participants.” Many challenges that youth face are identical to the issues facing adults, only on a much larger scale, and youth often do not have any input as to how these problems are dealt with. The most prominent issue disproportionately affecting youth is the …show more content…

In urbanized areas there is a significantly lessened need for manpower, with technology replacing many workers, and many companies outsourcing their labour to reduce costs. These efforts of multinational corporations to “reduce costs” are a structured form of exploiting workers in areas with large amounts of unemployment, where they will essentially have the choice between $0 a day unemployed or $2-3 a day, at the highest, working long hours to generate income for the already wealthy. Many of those who are in need of jobs, if they are a victim of poverty, will most likely be under-qualified for a position due to their circumstances, or completely overlooked due to discrimination. Contrary to this, in agricultural areas the privatization of resources leads to a shortage of jobs, and jobs that are available, majorly for multinational corporations, pay extremely low wages. Currently the youth unemployment rate has risen to 13.1% from 12.9% in 2012, with the largest increase being seen in the Middle East. This increase also becomes even greater when looking specifically at female youth, as discrimination based on gender, sexuality, race, and other traits also play a role in lack of employment. Many who are unemployed because of this discrimination, also struggle with education for the same reasons as …show more content…

With breakouts of diseases, for instance HIV, it’s no wonder why many opt out of receiving education, even if it is available. Those who are afflicted with HIV and diseases like it face heavy treatment costs, if treatment is accessible, and face huge amounts of discrimination. As many as 17 million youth currently live with HIV, making up ⅓ of the total population with HIV. The discrimination and huge costs these youth face will prevent a majority of them from ever receiving proper education, let alone employment opportunities. Unable to receive the proper education there is also a significantly higher chance of these youth spreading any transmittable diseases, because they simply would not learn how to prevent it. In many areas as well, even with education about disease, specifically with sexually transmitted infections, there is simply no available contraception. This leads not only to the continued spread of many various sexually transmitted infection, but also unplanned early pregnancies, jeopardizing the futures of girls who already face a gender gap in education and

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