Mr. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon,

Your Excellency Minister Samir Laabidi, Minister of Youth, Sports and Physical Education of the Republic of Tunisia

Your Excellency Ambassador Jean-Francis Regis Zinsou, Permanent Representative of Benin to the United Nations

My brother Sha Zukang, Under-Secretary- General for Economic and Social Affairs

Your Excellencies the Young People who are gathered in the General Assembly Hall and youth all over the world celebrating the International Year of Youth

Friends and colleagues,

It is a true pleasure to be with you here today and to repeat the young people’s song “to get up and shake” for young people’s empowerment and participation. I have a special honour to speak on behalf of the Heads of UN entities participating in the UN Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development, whose longer statement is available in the room. As I highlight the main content of the statement, I have interjected a few personal reactions in response to the expressions of commitment through words, music and dance that preceded me.

Today, we celebrate the launch of the International Year of Youth, under the theme Dialogue and Mutual Understanding as many have said before me. Twenty-five years ago, in 1985, we celebrated the first International Youth Year.

The challenges for youth development that were identified during that year laid the foundation for the World Programme of Action for Youth and its 15 priority areas still provide us with a useful guide to enhance the well-being of young women and men. While progress has been achieved, much remains to be done to ensure that all our youth become skilled, healthy and productive members of society. And the basis of all this commitment is the realization of human rights of all within diversity.

The United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development has developed a framework approach to guide its work during this International Year of Youth. The framework identifies three overarching objectives: increase commitment to, and investment in, youth; increase youth participation and partnerships; and increase intercultural understanding among youth. And these objectives are also the three messages I want to highlight today.

First, we must increase our commitment to invest in youth and their development because doing so will unleash greater economic growth and promote social well-being for generations to come. In order to achieve positive outcomes, a holistic approach to youth development is needed, focusing not only on young people themselves, but also on those factors that help shape their behaviours. Focused investment means ensuring inclusion of all young people who are marginalized and excluded, and this includes youth in both urban and rural areas.

Second, we need to institutionalize mechanisms for the participation of young women and men in decision-making processes and to support youth-led organizations and initiatives.

Young people are among the most affected by the key development challenges of our time, but are also at the forefront of developing innovative solutions to these problems.

We need increased investments in quality education and to provide the unprecedented number of job seekers entering the labour market in the coming years with decent work prospects. By ensuring the engagement of young people, we can adopt policies that are most effective and commit to their implementation. Inclusion is a critical principle for youth engagement and leadership.

And third, we must promote and invest in cultivating dialogue and intercultural understanding among youth. Their open-mindedness, mobility and affinity to information and communication technologies transcend geographical boundaries. Youth can be a bridge between cultures and can serve as key agents in promoting peace and dialogue. We stand to learn and to benefit from their energy and creativity.

I would like to thank our moderator, Chris Bashinelli, Executive Director, Bridge the Gap TV, for stressing the link between cultures but also between generations, a linkage which is often invisible or not recognized. And here being myself a person of the ageing population group, I would also like to call for inter-generational understanding and solidarity as essential for building just and peaceful societies. This is the first step to achieve the theme of this year. Mutual understanding and peace at home promote mutual understanding and peace in societies. Let us enter a partnership and dialogue across cultures and across generations, and they are interlinked, to make the world a better place for all generations of today and tomorrow.

Today, as we celebrate the launch of the International Year of Youth, the world’s largest youth generation ever is searching for opportunities to pursue and fulfill their dreams. They are approaching adulthood in a world our generation could not have imagined, and with their own leadership, supported by the older generation, they can shape the world to ensure sustainable development for the present and future generations.

At the beginning of this International Year of Youth, we commit to working together to tackle the challenges and seize the opportunities facing young people, wherever they are and in whatever situation they find themselves, in peace or conflict, those affected by poverty and those affected by natural disaster. We pledge to make youth a priority in our work and in partnership with young people to identify ways to promote the leadership and well-being of young women and men.

We call on the international community to join our efforts and to recognize the central role that young people play in the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals and the attainment of peace and security.

We call on governments to enter into a meaningful dialogue with young people in order to develop common understanding and to jointly address the development challenges facing us.
We hope that in 25 years from now, the young people of today will look back at this International Year of Youth and recognize that it has laid the foundations for making the world a better place for themselves and for succeeding generations of young women and men in every region, country and community around the world.

So “get up and shake” for youth as the leaders of today and the makers of tomorrow.