Miami Herald - May 17, 2005
Natalie P. Mcneal, nmcneal@herald.com

BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil - For 25-year-old Goldie Scott of Guyana, the issues confronting her country are many: the spread of HIV/AIDS, brain drain and lack of jobs.

Scott discussed her country's problems and other regional issues during an unusual, weeklong summit of more than 80 youth leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean that ended here Monday.

"This was a chance to look at the best practices of other countries to see if I can implement them in my country," said Scott, who organizes youth volunteers in Queenstown.

IN ATTENDANCE

Young people from 28 countries attended the Latin America and Caribbean Youth Leadership Summit sponsored by the United Nations, Global Peace Initiative of Women and Brazilian governmental agencies. Those attending were a mix of grass-roots organizers and budding politicians between ages 18 and 30.

"They had to have verifiable credibility to attend," said Djibril Diallo, director of the U.N. Office of Sport for Development and Peace and organizer of the summit. "We wanted to give the youth a platform to deal with issues."

South America had the most attendees, but the contingent from the Caribbean was smaller than organizers would have liked. Diallo said many young people from the Caribbean stayed home because they would have had to transfer through Miami but did not have transit visas for the United States.

Many of the conference's topics were framed after the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, which focus on combating eight major issues, including reducing child mortality, creating universal primary education and fighting AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

Young people account for about 50 percent of all unemployed workers in nearly every country in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the U.N.

ISSUES AND GOALS

The summit ended with the drafting of a three-page declaration, pledging to stop violence, fight poverty and decrease disparities between rich and poor in the region.

"In a normal situation, we do not have the resources to join together with young people in Latin America," said Solange Marquez, 25, a delegate from Mexico. "This will be good for the future."

While at the conference, participants visited a favela, or shantytown, a government-subsidized restaurant and a community center for battered women. They watched capoeira dancers, listened to Brazilian hip-hop and exchanged e-mail addresses.

Delegates discussed issues such as gender equality, eroding middle class and youth violence.

They were up late most nights working on the declaration.

"Everyone here has bags under their eyes, and we are only in our 20s," joked Thiago de Araujo Mendes, 24, of Brazil. "In 20 years, we will have high blood pressure."

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