Youth Statement Calls for a 40% plus representation of youth leadership and in decision-making bodies

Ahead of the General Assembly, youth delegates and other youth participants at AACC’s 12th General Assembly held their pre-assembly at the Methodist Cathedral of Unity from 16th to 18th November 2023, with the slogan that speaks to our pan-African spirit: Africa: My Home. My Future.  It was during this gathering that they developed a compelling statement that they delivered to the General Assembly on 22nd November 2023. 

In addition to celebrating major stakeholders in AACC’s 60-year journey, the statement expressed the African ecumenical youths’ solidarity with their colleagues who didn’t participate in this Assembly due to lack of financial support from their churches and the visa restrictions that failed a significant number of them traveling to Nigeria. 

“We are cognizant of the danger of the worsening climate change crisis, increase in armed conflicts across the continent, abuse of electoral and Constitutional Provisions, tribalism and ethnocentrism that continue to divide nations and churches, the high levels of unemployment, economic injustices, unfair taxation policies and illicit financial flows out of Africa, the unsustainable Population growth, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence and contemporary slavery and human trafficking.” Reads the statement.  

“Despite this, we are confident that Africa is developing at a stable pace and is on the right developmental track. Inspired by the All Africa Youth Congress, we are determined to lead the way to the Africa we want and live as vessels of the compelling love of Christ which safeguards the dignity of every human being and all creation, fosters justice, and amends broken relations among humanity and with nature” it continues. 

The statement called upon all African young people across the continent and in the diaspora to be active citizens who lead by example and refuse to conform to social systems and structures that perpetuate injustices; churches to remove barriers to youth participation in Church leadership and governance by ensuring a 40% plus representation of youth in decision making bodies and African heads of state and the African Union to work on delivering on the set goals of the Agenda 2063: the Africa We Want. At the moment, it is very critical that the Africa Free Trade Agreement is implemented by All African Countries, among other flagship projects of the Agenda 2063.   

https://aacc-ceta.org/sites/default/files/2023-11/YOUTH%20STATEMENT%20TO%20THE%2012TH%20GA.pdf