Keynote speakers at the conference included representatives from the national Ministry of Health and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Participants were NGO youth representatives, media and young politicians – members of youth departments of political parties.

IPPF youth volunteers gave a presentation on IPPF’s global campaign http://www.15andcounting.org, highlighting the specific needs of young people who will be most affected by the failure or success of governments to fulfil the promises they made in 1994 at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).

The Conference focused particularly on sexual rights, sexuality education, youth advocacy for sexual and reproductive health and rights. It also contributed to the familiarization of the ICPD at national level and in the context of the SRHR of young people.

One of the main objectives was to establish a platform for youth in partnership with NGOs and government authorities in the field of Sexual and Reproductive Health and with this to reinforce youth advocacy.

As a result of the Conference, a youth declaration on the Sexual and Reproductive Health of young people was signed by more than 20 civil society organizations, 3 political parties and 4 media representatives and will be presented at a roundtable and public debate that will take place between September and December 2009  with parliamentarians and other decision makers from central and local authorities.

According to HERA, there is still no co-ordinated action in the area of SRHR in the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia and young people have very limited access to SRHR information.  Services offered do not correspond to young people’s needs; sexuality education is still not part of the school curriculum which is why it is essential to include young people in the development of policies that are linked to their own SRHR.

For more information, contact Bojan Jovanovski at bojan.jovanovski@hera.org.mk