The United Nations on Thursday convened a high-level meeting, urging greater youth participation in policymaking while marking the 30th anniversary of the World Programme of Action for Youth (WPAY).
The meeting, under the theme of “WPAY at 30: Accelerating Global Progress Through Intergenerational Collaboration,” gathered together country leaders, government officials, and youth representatives from across the world during the High-Level Week of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) at UN headquarters in New York.
“Today’s youth generation and young people are leading on climate action, driving digital innovation, building local solutions and championing human rights,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a message read out at the meeting. But too often, they are shut out of decisions that shape their lives, he added.
Guterres called for more efforts to “make young people equal partners and equal decision makers by relying on their ideas, energy, and leadership.”
In her speech to the opening session, UN General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock shared the frustration young people face worldwide: inaccessible job markets and cyberbullying.
When some country leaders ignore climate responsibilities or even deny climate change issues, young people are filling the gap and taking action, Baerbock pointed out.
Baerbock holds that to promote young people’s engagement in decision-making to secure a better future for all needs “an intergenerational solidarity.”
Moving in that direction, UN youth office together with several UN partners coordinated a strategic foresight exercise, through which nearly 75,000 young people from 182 countries shared their challenges and hopes.
UN Assistant Secretary-General (ASG) for Youth Affairs, Felipe Paullier, explained that by organizing the activity, the United Nations wants to make more young people’s voices heard and that 2.3 billion young people worldwide aged 15-35 must be equal partners in shaping our shared future.
All-China Youth Federation President Xu Xiao highlighted China’s Medium and Long-term Youth Development Plan, the World Youth Development Forum and more than 200 global projects for youth development supported by China.
Botswana President Duma Boko highlighted the importance of global partnerships in youth engagement. “Countries like Botswana need enhanced cooperation in technology, transferred capacity building, and financing to scale up youth empowerment.”
“All developing countries, as a matter of fact, need global partnerships,” Boko said.
In 1995, the UN General Assembly adopted the WPAY, its first action plan on policies and programmes. The program has served as a blueprint for actions on critical issues affecting young people from education and employment to civic participation, health, and global citizenship.
