The lack of employment of many young people, especially in urban areas, has led to serious difficulties in a number of African countries. The governments of these countries have been trying different ways of training these young people, of giving them a sense of duty to their country and of making them feel keen to work for the advancement of the community. Some observers, however, have felt alarmed at the element of compulsion in certain of these methods (such as the civic services), while at the same time quite understanding the urgent necessity and the economic and social characteristics of the countries concerned, which have caused their governments to choose those particular systems. To these observers it seems that such methods cannot be reconciled with the principles of personal freedom and the provisions of international labour Conventions concerning forced or compulsory labour. This danger has not remained unrecognised by the African leaders themselves, as is shown in the following summary of an African Symposium held last September, in which a representative of the International Labour Office took part. The participants in the Symposium thoroughly discussed the various aspects of the problem of training and employment of young people in Africa and its possible solutions and they came out unconditionally in favour of methods based on persuasion and encouragement rather than on the reverse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]