Barbara Soetan, co-founder of Elevation Networks, a charity that aims to help young people become more employable, launching Yparticipate, a global youth-led initiative providing tools for active youth engagement at International Youth Day at Marlborough House on 12 August 2010. [Credit: Rebecca Hadell]
Video: International Year of Youth marked by Commonwealth
13 August 2010
Scores of youth leaders gather at Secretariat's headquarters at Marlborough House to mark event
World leaders were this week urged to acknowledge young people as the “most precious resource on our planet” at a celebration hosted by the Commonwealth Secretariat in London to mark the beginning of a new International Year of Youth.
Kamal Powell, Commonwealth Regional Youth Caucus Chairperson for the Caribbean, addressing some sixty young people and youth NGO representatives at the 'Your Year, Your Voice' event at Marlborough House on 12 August 2010, claimed that those in power must offer encouragement to youths not just as a “moral obligation” but as a “compelling economic necessity.”
“Let us seek the solutions to unlock youth potential, energy, imagination and initiative that will drive their contributions to enhancing peace and development,” remarked Mr Powell ahead of a special panel debate tackling issues such as climate change, education and reproductive health.
Coinciding with the tenth anniversary of International Youth Day, the event helped mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first United Nations designated International Year of Youth. Under the theme of “dialogue and mutual understanding”, member states are challenged to inspire their young with ideas of peace, freedom, progress, solidarity and dedication to the goals of progress and development.
Mr Powell continued: “We encourage stakeholders to acknowledge the objectives of the International Year of Youth and work together to ensure the policies and processes are in place to increase investment in youth, to increase participation and partnership and to increase inter-cultural understanding among youth. The world needs to see young people as a resource. Young people are the most precious resource on our planet.”
The day saw a prize-giving ceremony for the winners of the Commonwealth Video Contest, an online competition organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat, as well as the launch of Yparticipate, a global youth-led initiative providing young people with tools for meaningful participation in decisions which affect them.
Speakers on the panel debate included Scott Forbes, British Council Global Changemaker and Founder of Global Forum 40, Maherunesa Khandaker, DFID Young Reporter and founder of charity Arohon helping to combat poverty in Bangladesh and Niel Bowerman, founder of Climate Justice Project and representative for the UK Youth Climate Coalition.
Other speakers included Steven Cheung, London 2012 Olympic Ambassador and Young Advisor to the Ministry of Justice and Andre Campbell, an award winning entrepreneur, consultant and TV presenter. Performances came from On the Spot, a band from the Pacific island nation of Tonga, and Samantha Khan, an 18-year-old youth from Trinidad and Tobago, among others.
Addressing the gathering, Commonwealth Spokesperson Eduardo del Buey read out a personal message from Kamalesh Sharma, Commonwealth Secretary-General. “Our young people – their talent, energy and creativity – represent our greatest untapped resource for development, and the embodiment of our hope for the future of all our communities, and of the world,” he said.
Fatiha Serour, Youth Affairs Director at the Commonwealth Secretariat, added: “Let everybody across the world know that this is the time for you [young people] to take the leadership”.
The Commonwealth is made up of 54 member states of which half are aged under 25.
Click here for a statement on International Youth Day by Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma.
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