{"id":7553,"date":"2015-08-12T15:44:20","date_gmt":"2015-08-12T15:44:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/?p=7553"},"modified":"2018-04-22T12:07:51","modified_gmt":"2018-04-22T16:07:51","slug":"on-youth-day-un-officials-urge-member-states-to-make-young-people-drivers-of-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/blog\/2015\/08\/on-youth-day-un-officials-urge-member-states-to-make-young-people-drivers-of-change\/","title":{"rendered":"On Youth Day, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ officials urge Member States to make young people &#8216;drivers of change&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Marking International Day of Youth, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed that no one knows better than young people the issues at stake in today&#8217;s rapidly changing world or the best way to respond, and declared: \u201cThat is why I am calling on young people to speak out \u2013 and I am urging leaders to listen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As the world changes with unprecedented speed, young people are proving to be invaluable partners who can advance meaningful solutions, the Secretary-General stated in a message issued for the Day, observed each year on 12 August.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYouth movements and student groups are challenging traditional power structures and advocating a new social contract between States and societies. Young leaders have contributed fresh ideas, taken proactive measures, and mobilized through social media as never before,\u201d said Mr. Ban.<\/p>\n<p>This year&#8217;s theme \u2013 &#8216;Youth Civic Engagement&#8217; \u2013 emphasizes the involvement and inclusion of young people in building social cohesion and collective well-being, underlined Irina Bokova, Director-General of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵESCO), in her message on the Day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom social entrepreneurs to journalists, from voluntary workers to members of community organizations, young people contribute to shaping society to lead it towards political, cultural and economic renewal,\u201d she stressed.<\/p>\n<p>As world leaders prepare to adopt a bold new vision for sustainable development next September, the engagement of youth is more valuable than ever, assured the Secretary-General. \u201cAt this critical moment in history, I call on young people to demand and foster the dramatic progress so urgently needed in our world.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 hundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-overflow:visible;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last fusion-column-no-min-height\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-margin-bottom:0px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\"><div class=\"fusion-video fusion-youtube\" style=\"--awb-max-width:800px;--awb-max-height:367px;\"><div class=\"video-shortcode\"><div class=\"fluid-width-video-wrapper\" style=\"padding-top:45.88%;\" ><iframe title=\"YouTube video player 1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qExjaEZg0-Q?wmode=transparent&autoplay=0\" width=\"800\" height=\"367\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture;\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p>Describing volunteerism as an \u201cideal\u201d way to improve society, Mr. Ban also encouraged youth to join forces with the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ, as Member States move from forging the new sustainable development goals to implementing them. \u201cI stand with the world&#8217;s young people in calling for measures to secure human rights, economic progress, environmental stewardship and social inclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In support of their aims, the Secretary-General&#8217;s Envoy on Youth, Ahmad Alhendawi, is working to mobilize the \u201clargest generation of young people in history to turn the world we want into the world we deserve\u201d, Mr. Ban noted, while Mrs. Bokova observed that young people must be considered as \u201cdrivers of change,\u201d and not only beneficiaries or targets.<\/p>\n<p>Today, Mr. Alhendawi is in the Philippines to open the 3rd Asian Youth Forum. He will also join the Filipino National Youth Day Celebration with 1,000 young people from the country, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ officials, government representatives, legislators, civil society partners, and donor organizations.<\/p>\n<p>At the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Headquarters in New York, the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Development Programme (Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDP), with the support of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Inter-agency Network on Youth Development, is organizing an event to commemorate International Youth Day .<\/p>\n<p>In a recent interview with the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ News Service, Mr. Alhendawi said the message of this year&#8217;s Youth Day is one of hope.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is unique year in the history of the United Nations; a year where we are adopting new Sustainable Development Goals a very bold promise for the future <div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-1 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last fusion-column-no-min-height\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-margin-bottom:0px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\">[and] a new climate change agreement. That is it is so fitting that we celebrate this International Youth Day under the theme &#8216;Youth Civic Engagement,&#8217; because I believe the password to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals is engaging young people in their implementation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, with the current cohort of young people the largest the world has ever seen, \u201cthe smart thing to do,\u201d he continued, \u201cis to engage them as partners in development and in implementation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As such, he encouraged young people who are already active in their communities to step up their engagement. He also called on Governments to scale up their investments in young people and open more mechanism for them to be involved in decision-making processes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor young people who are still in doubt about whether their participation will make a difference in the world, I invite them to come on board with the United Nations and be part of this global movement that is trying to eradicate extreme poverty in 15 years and put our planet on a path of sustainability. We have a very exciting time ahead and we need everybody to come on board,\u201d he declared.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/apps\/news\/story.asp?NewsID=51613#.VctnyvlViko\" target=\"_blank\">via Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ News Centre<\/a><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marking International Day of Youth, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed that no one knows better than young people the issues at stake in today&#8217;s rapidly changing world or the best way to respond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":230,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,29],"tags":[1889,1917,1921,1885,1905,748,1913,490,1893,1897,1901,1864,1012,1909],"class_list":["post-7553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-sustainable-development-agenda","tag-3rd-asian-youth-forum","tag-ahmad-alhendawi","tag-director-general","tag-filipino-national-youth-day-celebration","tag-international-youth-day","tag-irina-bokova","tag-secretary-generals-envoy-on-youth","tag-sustainable-development-goals","tag-un-department-of-economic-and-social-affairs","tag-un-development-programme","tag-un-inter-agency-network-on-youth-development","tag-un-news-service","tag-united-nations-secretary-general-ban-ki-moon","tag-youth-civic-engagement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7553\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}