Youth Delegates at Third Committee raising concerns about jobs, education and inclusion in decision-making

The biggest problem facing young people around the world — in developing and developed countries — was unemployment and underemployment, youth representatives told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) as it concluded its general discussion on social development, with lively contributions from a number of delegates, many of whom had grown up alongside the Millennium Development Goals.

Young people from around the world spoke candidly about the obstacles that they faced, with several speakers lamenting that youth had not been given their due roles in public life. A youth delegate from Finland noted that after 15 years of implementing the Millennium Goals, less than one fifth of Finnish young people had ever heard of them. When asked about the future they wanted, they described a fair and equal world, where people were judged by their skills. “Ideology and religion are not the leading factors behind radicalization of youth,” he stressed. “Much more important is the lack of economic and social opportunities.”

Some speakers focused on national challenges. Two youth delegates from Sri Lanka spoke about the tribulations of a country emerging from three decades of conflict. Noting a disparity in resource distribution between rural and urban areas and the burden of conflict on women, they called on the international community to “rethink structural dominance and power relationships”.

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MDGs, Youth, Employment, Participation, Social inclusion, Social development,

SOURCE & COPYRIGHT: United Nations

TAGS: MDGs, Youth, Employment, Participation, Social inclusion, Social development,