Protesters Demand Transparency For New Youth Body

Several members of a youth concern group protested outside the government's headquarters on Tuesday, calling for a more transparent and democratic Youth Development Commission that would truly reflect young people's views.

The commission, set up last month, is a revamped version of the former Commission on Youth and is to help the government formulate youth-related policies.

But Naomi Ho, from the group "Youth Policy Advocators", pointed out that most of the commission's members are appointed and most have pro-establishment backgrounds.

Ho told RTHK's Jimmy Choi that she hopes the commission will open its meetings to the public, and that it will allow more young people to become members through democratic elections.

"We believe that in order to increase the representation of the Youth Development Commission, we have to increase the democracy elements of the commission. For example, if the youth in the society can elect by voting who can represent them ... their representation [on the commission] will be higher and it will be more legitimate," Ho said.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party's Senia Ng said that as the only pro-democracy member of the commission, she will do her best to reflect the problems faced by young people from the grassroots and middle-class sectors of society.

She added that she hopes to convince members to back the setting-up of a "youth parliament" which could truly reflect young people's views.

"With democratic elements, a democratic election ... the youth would really have power to design their agenda, to reflect their own opinions, to monitor the government's work," Ng said.