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Commonwealth Secretariat press release

Looking to the Future: Commonwealth Day 2001 Statement by the Commonwealth Secretary-General

28 February 2001

Monday 12 March is Commonwealth Day. As we celebrate the Commonwealth, its strength, its diversity and its many achievements, we also look to the future, to what our Commonwealth will be in the 21st century, and what we can offer our young people. Looking forward is particularly appropriate this year, when the theme of the Day is "A New Generation".

The Commonwealth's 54 member countries are home to one-third of the world's young people. While few Commonwealth leaders can claim to be of the younger generation, the Commonwealth recognises that the association's life-blood is its young people - the leaders, businesspeople, teachers, doctors, workers and parents of tomorrow.

In all our countries, young men and women are making a vital contribution to the stability, growth, development and prosperity of their societies. But they also face many challenges: gaining an education, finding employment, remaining healthy, supporting their families and fulfilling their personal and spiritual aspirations. Their success in reaching these goals is not guaranteed: poverty, hunger, dislocation due to war or natural disaster, and the scourge of HIV/AIDS are ever-present threats to the future of too many young people around the world.

The Commonwealth wants to help young people achieve their full potential. Wherever I go in the Commonwealth, I make a point of meeting young people and listening to what they have to say. And whether it is in the smallest country or the largest, the richest or the poorest, the message I am getting is very clear: young people want to be taken seriously, they want to make a difference, and they want a better life for themselves, their families and their countries.

Young people have energy, young people are committed. What is perhaps less well known is that this energy and commitment can be a tremendous force for good in the world. It is high time that more of us recognised that young people are not a problem; indeed, with our support and willingness to empower them, they can be a powerful partner in tackling many of the problems we face today.

The Commonwealth - the only global organisation with a programme specifically dedicated to young people - unites a wide diversity of peoples and countries. When Commonwealth Heads of Government meet at their biennial summit in Brisbane, Australia, this October, they will discuss a theme that bears directly on the lives of young people: the continuity and renewal of the Commonwealth as an international "family" worthy of tomorrow's citizens.


01/15 28 February 2001
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ISSUED BY THE COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS DIVISION
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