Young people yearn
to have a say. The Sri Lanka Youth Parliament (SLYP) creates a platform that brings together youths from different
parts of the island and empowers them through the participation in simulated
parliamentary sessions. This allows them to take up the role of decision makers
and gives them first-hand experience in the democratic decision-making process.
Policy makers and authorities are made well aware of the decisions made at the
Sri Lanka Youth Parliament.
The 8th Session
of Sri Lanka Youth Parliament was held on the 22nd and 23rd of September at the
Sri Lanka Youth Council Premises in Maharagama. The Monitoring MP for Youth
Affairs and Skills Development Ministry Mohan Lal Grero attended the event
together with the Chairman of the NYSC Lalith Piyum Perera and its working
director Milinda Rajapaksha.
The National
Youth Parliament consists of 335 members, of which 332 are elected by
registered members of the NYSC Youth Clubs Network. 3 members are appointed by
nomination of the Secretary of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Skills
Development to support underrepresented stakeholders: i.e. one youth
parliamentarian to represent indigenous communities, one member to represent
people with disabilities and another member for ethnic minorities unrepresented
at the SLYP. Any individual within the age group 18-39 can contest the
elections for the Youth Parliament.
The SLYP facilitates
intercultural encounters while providing a platform for youth to play a
leadership role in identifying and addressing the needs of the communities they
live in. SLYP was created to build a second generation of proficient leaders
and to ensure the constructive involvement of youth in the development agenda
of the country. The Sri Lanka youth Parliament Complex is currently being
constructed in Kilinochchi, the former
administrative centre and de facto capital of the LTTE.
