Representation of Member of Parliaments (MPs) under 30 years of age at national elections is at a meagre 0.29 per cent, the lowest among the South Asian countries, according to a statistics.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) statistics, generated since 2014, show youth to be severely underrepresented in political life.
The IPU statistics also reveals that people under age 30 account for more than half of the world’s population but only around 2.0 per cent of it are MPs (Youth Participation in National Parliaments 2018, IPU 2018).
The information was disclosed at a dialogue titled “Youth Representation in Political Decision-Making Structures: Challenges and Opportunities” at the CIRDAP auditorium on Saturday.
The discussion was organised jointly by ActionAid Bangladesh and Dhrubotara Youth Development Foundation.
ActionAid Bangladesh and the Global Research and Marketing (GRM) conducted a study based on the statistics to find out the reasons behind the reluctance of youths for joining politics, which were discussed in the dialogue.
Some of the reasons are:
- Discouragement from family and society
- Poverty
- Gender discrimination
- Absence of democracy
In Bangladesh, over one-third of population are young (BBS, 2015) and the country has recognised the need for youth participation in the development process in its policies including the National Youth Policy (NYP) 2017 and the 7th Five-Year Plan.
To this end, a healthy political environment should be ensured for a greater share of youth in political the decision-making processes, said the study.
The study also disclosed that the level of youth participation in political decision-making processes is extremely low.
Promoting political participation of young people is becoming a higher priority globally, according to the study.
More than one-third of 169 SDG targets relate to young people and the importance of their empowerment, participation and well-being, it added.
The speakers said, twenty targets across six SDGs – relating to hunger, education, gender equality, decent work, inequality and climate change – specifically focus on youth.
Young people’s participation is also vital to the achievement of SDG 16 on peaceful, just and inclusive societies and SDG 17 on partnerships and implementation, they added.
