Editor's Note: Advocates for Youth has prepared and submitted the following testimony in advance of tomorrow's U.S. Senate hearing on the ratification of the Convention for Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women:

Dear Chairman Durbin, Ranking Member Coburn, and Members of the Subcommittee:

Advocates for Youth is pleased to submit this statement in strong support of ratification of the Convention for Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women [CEDAW].

Established in 1980 as the Center for Population Options, Advocates for Youth champions efforts that help young people make informed and responsible decisions about their reproductive and sexual health. We believe we can best serve the field by boldly advocating for a more positive and realistic approach to adolescent sexual health. This approach is based on the core values of Rights. Respect. Responsibility.©  

Youth have the right to accurate and complete sexual health information, confidential reproductive and sexual health services, and a secure stake in the future. Youth deserve respect. Valuing young people means involving them in the design, implementation, and evaluation of programs that affect their health and well-being.  And society has the responsibility to provide young people with the tools they need to safeguard their sexual health while young people have the responsibility to protect themselves from too-early childbearing and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.  

by Emily Bridges, Director of Public Information Services

Two news stories today highlight the stupidity and unfairness of our nation's policy of barring gays from the military.  

The first:  The ACLU has filed a class-action suit against the Department of Defense.  The DoD has decided to cut the "separation pay" for service members discharged because of homosexuality, in half.

You get separation pay if you've served honorably for six years or more.

So, should you serve in our nation's armed forces for six YEARS, and should you be discovered to be GLBTQ, you may look forward not only to the injustice and humiliation of being discharged for no actual reason, but you're going to get half the pay another honorably discharged member might.  

This is a policy separate from Don't Ask Don't Tell itself.  The Obama Administration's Defense Department has simply decided to implement the separation pay cut all on its own.  Contacted by the ACLU, the DoD refused to revise the policy.

Editor's Note: The following post was written by Nana Boateng, an Advocates for Youth International Youth Blogger. Nana is from Ghana and recently attended the 1st African Youth Development Forum. She shares her experiences from the meeting below.

 In Addis Ababa, looking everywhere, colorful shawls, beautiful women and smiley men, I lick my lips as the cold dry weather cracks it. The Conference was officially opened on the 1st of November at the UN offices in Addis. Ethiopia’s President, Girma Woldegiorgis was there as was Youth Groups, Diplomats and Ministers. The ceremony was pretty short especially for a select Youth who had to leave after the first session to the Ghion Hotel for a youth lead forum in preparation for the African Union Summit in July 2011.

Over the conference hall at Ghion is art work so stunning! My eyes stroll up at the various frames. Two women stare at me naked chested, their hands covering their ears with tears walking down their faces. I wonder if they too are tired already from the talk shops. In one cliché or the other, speaker after speaker acknowledge African youth are Africa’s largest resource at the opening ceremony and the forum. One thing is clear, African leaders have good intentions for youth. Why then are the young women up the ceiling still crying?  

But will young people pay the price?

Advocates for Youth Staff

Advocates for Youth President James Wagoner spoke to Washington Post writer Rob Stein about the millions of dollars the HHS has recently given in grants for failed abstinence-only programs. 

 "They are funding programs that censor information about condoms and birth control and have elements that are clearly ideological and not science-based," said James.  "I think the Obama administration is stretching the limits so it can 'give something to the other side...Young people will end up paying the price."

Read the Washington Post Article