Within the diverse Andean countries, grave problems exist in the youth
population, which can be divided into various sectors, relating to
education, employment, youth participation and health management. We
describe in general various common situations in the Andean countries
with respect to youth.

Education is one of the principal problems affecting this population.
That is why it is important to mention the difficult situations of
these countries in terms of social investment, creating grave problems
for education, which affects the youth directly, especially those
belonging to indigenous and afro-Colombian communities, including
homosexuals, lesbians and pregnant women, among others. These young
people continually find themselves in vulnerable situations due to the
different forms of discrimination of their peers and teachers, for
example.

As far as access to secondary and higher education, we have found that
in black and indigenous communities there does not exist the necessary
funding, which is why many young people do not have the opportunity to
gain access to these educational spheres.

Discrimination due to sexual orientation and gender:

In the majority of cases, both young men and women are denied the
right to determine their sexual orientation and control their bodies
due to the impositions of an adult-centered society. This is the case
with sexual initiation by men and women, which is a discriminatory
practice since women must remain virgins until marriage, contrary to
the practices established for men.

Employment

Access to employment is one of the principal problems facing the
youth, especially the black and indigenous populations. Because the
majority of these populations do not have access to higher education,
their options for employment are limited.

Additionally, the problem of sex workers is one facing the youth. Sex
workers are found in situations of disadvantage for various reasons
including forced displacement, sexual orientation, HIV and AIDS,
violence, etc.

Among the youth in discriminated ethnic groups, we find that they are
excluded from employment because they are considered incapable or
untrustworthy.

Participation

The majority of young people from the different countries are excluded
from participation processes such as public spaces which do not take
them into account because they are considered incapable, despite the
fact that they have the knowledge to occupy these positions.

The youth are not represented in the diverse state entities.

There exists another problem related to the "acculturation"
(endoracism) of the indigenous youth who, upon moving away from their
communities to the city, adopt outside cultures, for which they cut
their hair, change their dress and generate identity problems for the
younger members of their communities.

Proposals

-Broadly speaking, we require international organizations such as the
United Nations and the International Monetary Fund, among others, to
motivate governments to generate public policies that permit the
creation of processes of equality among the youth population and
discriminated groups of the Andean countries.

-It is important to mention that the different proposals that we state
here must be implemented with regard to the ethnic and cultural
particularities of each region, which will permit equal participation
of the different social sectors, especially those that have
historically been excluded.

-The first consists of the need for government to guarantee active
youth participation in development plans and programs within the
different countries. The countries themselves should recognize the
needs of the least favored sectors, especially indigenous and afro-
Andean groups.

- To generate plans and programs which include youth employment that
will permit their participation in their household economies.

- To permit the participation of the youth in different multilateral
government plans, projects and decisions.

- To design programs to improve indigenous and black access to
education by way of educational proposals that are built around their
individual realities.

- To generate educational programs that promote tolerance and
coexistence between youth of different backgrounds (blacks,
indigenous, homosexuals, lesbians, etc.).

- To demand a sexual and reproductive education program that is non-
sexist, taking into account the differences surrounding this theme.

- To fortalize youth leadership processes with the goal of youth
participation in the development of their communities.

- To construct spaces of alternative communication for young people
and to permit their participation in existing mass media.

- To realize a campaign of educational motivation that includes
creative and cultural development.

Facilitator: Patricia Yallico, CONAIE, Ecuadorian Forum for Diversity
and Pluralism