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UNI Global Union today offered it strong support for protesting young people in Tunisia and said it strongly supported their demand for employment strategies in a region that is facing a youth unemployment crisis.



UNI also condemned the violent reaction by authorities that has left dozens of young protestors dead and many more injured.



“The protestors are from the lost generation of workers in Tunisia and in neighboring countries in the region,” said UNI General Secretary Philip Jennings. “The ILO says 3.8 million North African youth were unemployed in 2009. Tunisia needs to find a long-term solution for development and quality employment throughout the country for the thousands of young people who are educated and want to work. We are encouraged by President Zine El Abidine’s promise to create 300,000 jobs in the next two years but he needs to make good on this promise to ensure a prosperous future for the country.”



Tunisian unemployment among 18-29 year olds is about 24 percent, according to a recent study by the United Nations. Tunisia and its regional neighbors are all facing a jobs crisis for young people. According to the ILO’s 2010 report on youth unemployment, youth labour force participation in North Africa was 36.9 percent in 2000, 36.3 in 2010 and will be 34.7 percent in 2015. The ILO expects youth unemployment to rise in the region in 2011.



Demonstrations started after a young fruit seller from Sidi Bouzid in the impoverished central region of Tunisia set fire to himself after police confiscated produce he was selling on the street. The protests have spread from the centre of the country to the capital, Tunis.



UNI joins the Tunisian trade union center UGTT in their demand for freedom of expression and peaceful protest, their support for the demonstrators and their call to end the deadly violence and repression. The UGTT says over 50 demonstrators have been killed.



“We are calling on the authorities to end their violent response to the protests,” said UNI Africa Regional Secretary Zakari Koudougou. “The global trade union movement is standing behind this vital call for employment, equality and economic justice by our sisters and brothers in Tunisia.”



Along with the UGTT and UNI affiliates in Tunisia, Koudougou also called for the immediate withdrawal of armed forces from the streets and removal of police forces from the trade unions’ offices.