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At the first-ever Youth Forum, from 11-12 March at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), 300 participants from across the globe stressed that young people are in the driver's seat and they're ready to achieve gender equality.
“We need to have a big leap to protect human rights and ensure gender equality,” said Ahmad Alhendawi, the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy on Youth. “We are making some progress, but we are far from achieving gender equality. […] We have more goals than years to achieve them. […] There's no space here for baby steps.”
The key outcome of the forum was the development of a set of Youth-Agreed Conclusions for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. At the end of the conference, the Conclusions were presented to the Chair of the Commission on the Status of Women.
For the first time ever, a youth representative also made a statement at the opening session of CSW60, on 14 March, highlighting the youth commitment to, and asks from, the 2030 Agenda. Vanessa Anyoti called on Member States to: incorporate the youth forum recommendations into the agreed conclusions during their deliberations; create opportunities and invest resources, political will and concrete support to young women and girls; ensure that all young women and girls have a voice and appropriate skills to enable them to make informed decisions; and commit to action to end all forms of violence against young women and girls and support survivors of violence. She also called upon all young men and boys to act to achieve gender equality.
To learn more about this forum, please click here.
Source & Copyright: UN Women