Seminar on youth participation in Sudan politics

Finding ways and mechanisms to activate the political participation of young Sudanese was the topic of a seminar organised yesterday by the Sudanese NGO Regional Centre for Training and Development of the Civil Society (RCDCS).

The seminar was organised in cooperation with the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

The participants of the workshop recommended that a quota of no less than 15% would be adopted for young people in political institutions. The voting age must be reduced to 16 years. Political parties should have a participation of young people of no less than 40%.

The recommendations, presented by RCDCS project officer Iman Hasan, stressed the need for civil society organisations to design training programmes on civic education in order to develop the skills of their members. Government policies must be introduced to activate meaningful participation of young people in politics as well.

The youth themselves should have a role in establishing youth parliaments in Khartoum and other states, and in designing and activating transitional justice mechanisms. In both the public and private sector positive discrimination must lead to youth employment of at least 10 per cent.

RCDCS Executive Director Ismail El Taj said in a press statement yesterday that more than 1,000 young people participated in various workshops and questionnaires of the project to increase the participation of young people in civil society organisations and political parties. The workshops included discussions on various election laws, the contents of the 2019 Constitutional Document, and Sudan’s 2005 Constitution.

Sawt El Arab satellite TV posted a short video on YouTube about the seminar (in Arabic).

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