Yasmine Djelloul, Sweden’s UN Youth Delegates delivered the national statement at the Third Committee General Discussion on Social Development, 30 September 2022, New York
Distinguished Chair,Honorable delegates and fellow youth delegates.
Today I am here speaking in my own capacity but I'm also representing the National Youth Council of Sweden and our member organizations that are active locally, nationally and internationally.
The global youth movement is determined to be agents of positive change– to build hope for a peaceful global culture based on human rights, coexistence, inclusion and sustainability. We, the global youth movement, have an important role in providing young people with a voice and to offer them a viable alternative to extremism or passivism. We work to give young people all over the world the opportunities to be part of decision-making processes, to organize for what we believe in and to protect our common human rights and freedoms. We do this by being experts, by advocating and by being leaders in our own communities. But we face obstacles.
We see how our democratic commitment is met with a shrinking space and how we are faced by a harsher and more polarized political climate. We see how populistic forces are dividing and marginalized groups in society. Youth and civil society organizations are made suspect, financial aid is targeted and withdrawn - and around the world we see how youth activists and representatives are threatened, harassed and imprisoned precisely because of their involvement. This is alarming. When young people face threats and hatred that limit their democratic rights - the situation must be taken seriously. The threats and hatred towards youth movements is also causing extra burdens in terms of mental illness, negative stress and burnouts - something that is especially noticeable for minority representatives that we know face greater risk of being violated. This is a growing problem jeopardizing the possibilities for youth to exercise their democratic rights - it is also limiting youth organizations from doing advocacy work and affecting the opportunities to gather and organize.
In order to stop this development, young people's voices must be heard, and our perspectives and skills must be acknowledged. Youth are key in unlocking solutions to our global challenges, but the accomplishments in enabling change depends on our efforts to create inclusive and representative social, political and economic platforms.
It is likewise important to stress that the inclusion of young people must not lead to tokenism or youth washing, it needs to be pure - and countries must understand young people as not only being the future, but also as active agents of today’s society. Consultations with youth must therefore come back with outcomes that in fact include the youth perspective and provide opportunities to officially evaluate the results. It is also important to understand that issues in almost all policy areas concern young people. Our participation can therefore not be limited to what is considered typical youth issues.The youth movement must be seen as an important social actor that is financed, consulted and allowed to work independently and freely with tasks and issues we ourselves consider important. It is time to realize that a strong democracy cannot be achieved without a strong civil society and empowered youth movements.
The global community must be reminded that we now have entered the decade of action.
A decade in which we, the youth, demande increased levels of ambitions, braver actions and to see enhanced national implementations that secure human rights for children & youth all over the world. Implementations that enable and secures the democratic space for civil society organizations to operate.
We allow for no one to be left behind - and call for all actors in the UN system to ensure young people's participation, in all of their diversity - independent of their socio-economic conditions or geographical position. Intersectional aspects must be acknowledged and the representation of youth from the Global North and Global South must be representative and balanced. Social justice is not only an ethical imperative – it is the basis of national stability and global prosperity - and a necessary corestone born of universal values on equality, solidarity and respect. Discrimination and division must therefore be opposed in all its forms and all countries must take responsability in enbeling youth to work for a better future - for ourselfs and for those coming after us.
Thank you for the floor.