Holding of the 10th IPU Global Conference of Young Parliamentarians in Armenia

The Second Deputy Speaker of the Senate of Burundi, Honourable Fabrice Nkurunziza, participated, in the morning of Thursday, September 12, 2024, in the opening ceremonies of the 10^th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Global Conference of Young Parliamentarians, in Yerevan, Republic of Armenia.

Shortly after, he took part in the various presentations by representatives of international organizations on the countdown to 2030, focusing on global perspectives and assessments at the national level. Honourable Chantal Ndabahinyuye also participated in this work.

In the afternoon of the same day, Honourable Fabrice Nkurunziza got the opportunity to present the assessment of the activities implemented to provide quality education and decent work in Burundi. He indicated that the Government of the Republic of Burundi has understood that education, quality training and the guarantee of decent employment are the real keys to success and socio-economic integration of young people.

The Second Deputy Speaker of the Senate specified that wherever the right to quality education is not guaranteed, young people find themselves deprived of the professional and productive skills necessary for their empowerment. “Then, they grow up with a feeling of being useless to themselves and to society because they have no way of accessing employment,” he added.

Therefore, he said that to address this situation, the Government had undertaken many initiatives aimed at giving young people the maximum chance of benefiting from quality education and decent employment.

Regarding access to decent employment and reduction of unemployment for young people, Honourable Fabrice Nkurunziza stated that the Government of Burundi has set up a national youth council to allow more effective participation of young people in defining and directing government programmes in their favour.

He also pointed out that the Government has initiated a Youth Empowerment Programme (PAEJ) whose objective is to support all policies in terms of job creation, unemployment reduction, poverty reduction and professional integration to stimulate the country’s economic growth.

In the same sequence of this afternoon’s activities, the Second Deputy Speaker of the Senate participated in the second session entitled: “Youth lives disrupted: impact of crises on the rights and socio-economic empowerment of young people”. Here, the debates focused on the disruptive effects of global crises, among which wars, economic recessions, pandemics and climate change, on youth education and employment. Participants reflected on legislative, political, budgetary and oversight measures which young parliamentarians can take to defend youth education and employment, especially in times of crisis.

Finally, he took part in the presentation of case studies by some parliamentarians from their own countries. They illustrated the impact of crises and the political measures taken to empower young people in such circumstances.