Young people play an important role as agents of change and meaningful interlocutors in decision-making processes and governance platforms.

~Ambassador Olof Skoog

At a side event organized by the Permanent Mission of Portugal, the European Union Delegation, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) and the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, UN Youth Delegates were invited to share their views on the main topics of this year’s theme of the Commission for Social Development: The role of youth in tackling poverty and hunger at local, regional and international level.

The event, intended to foster meaningful youth participation and empowerment, featured official youth delegates from more than 10 UN Member States with two youth delegates from Mexico and Germany moderating.

Official UN Youth Delegates from Peru, Georgia, Israel, Ukraine, Panama, the Sovereign Order of Malta, the European Union, Mexico and Guyana intervened during the discussions.

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Youth participants were welcomed by Ambassador Olof Skoog and Mr. Liu Zhenmin, Undersecretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs of the UN; Ambassador Maria del Carmen Squeff, Permanent Representative of Argentina and Chair of the Commission for Social Development; Mr. Máximo Torero Cullen, Chief Economist in the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Ms. Jayathma Wickramanayake, the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, shared a video message. Ambassador Francisco Duarte Lopes, Permanent Representative of Portugal to the UN closed the event by thanking participants and urging them to continue to advocate for their peers.

In his opening remarks, Ambassador Skoog noted that young people play an important role as agents of change and meaningful interlocutors in decision-making processes and governance platforms. He welcomed the increasing presence of youth delegates at the Commission for Social Development and the important contribution they bring to our debates addressing global challenges such as poverty and hunger.

Ensuring high-level education, skills and decent jobs are key to youth empowerment. At the global level, youth empowerment is one of the key priorities of EU action.

The EU is supporting young people by promoting opportunities for employment, apprenticeship, training or education and preparing them for in the digital and green transitions.

Our main tool for this is the reinforced EU Youth Guarantee, which ensures that all young people under the age of 30 receive a good quality offer of employment, continued education, apprenticeship or traineeship within a period of four months of becoming unemployed or leaving education.

To date, approximately 36 million young people registered in the Youth Guarantee have participated in work, educational or training opportunities since 2014.

Now, the reinforced Youth Guarantee steps up the comprehensive job support available to young people across the EU, reaching out to a broader target group of 15 to 29 year-olds.

Many other EU initiatives are also particularly important for young people, such as the recent proposal by the European Commission to improve the working conditions in platform work.

With 2022 designated as European Year of Youth, the EU is examining measures to give young people a stronger voice in policymaking, and places particular attention on reaching disadvantaged young people.

The Role of Youth in Tackling Poverty and Hunger

As many of the youth delegates noted, eradication of poverty and hunger in the world is within our reach, but it can only be achieved if we address the needs of young people and act together with them to tackle these challenges.

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The growing numbers of young people in Asia, Latin America , and especially in Africa, require adequate policy responses contributing to sustainable development and decent work for all, while addressing the root causes of migration and the challenges related to climate change.

The first step towards this is listening to our young people as they challenge the status quo by sharing their innovative ideas for providing greater access to affordable, healthy and sustainable food.

Watch the event