The UN's youth envoy said Tuesday (November 15th) that Arab leaders must treat the region's 100 million youth as an asset, not a liability, AFP reported.
"This is a generation that is so willing to contribute," but is beset by obstacles, Ahmad Alhendawi told the MiSK Global Forum in Saudi Arabia.
Releasing figures from a forthcoming study, he said the region's average age is below 25 -- but the average age of Arab world politicians is 58.
"This region has the highest rate of youth protest if you compare it to all other regions in the world," said Alhendawi, a Jordanian named to the post in 2013.
A separate report by the UN labour agency in August showed that Arab states count the world's highest youth unemployment rate, above 30%.
Overall, the region needs to create 60 million jobs by 2020, Alhendawi said, adding that the region should establish "an enabling environment" to make it easier for young people to start businesses, and where they are seen "as an asset, not as a liability".
Young people's use of social media shows "they are interested in politics and they are interested in public life", though not in the formal institutions of government, he added.
He said the Arab world itself contains the solutions to its problems.
"This is our region," he said. "We have to reclaim it."
