Youth Take a Stand at the UN

Francis Dijibo is an Ogoni indigenous person from Nigeria. He left his village when he was 20 because the water from the only stream was no longer safe to drink and there were open gas flares burning 24 hours a day. Shell International was responsible for the pollution, but the village has received no compensation – there are no schools, no electricity and no hospitals.

When the villagers went to the company to complain, they were ignored. When they demonstrated, they were shot at, and 9 Ogoni people were hung. To look for an escape for himself and his people, Francis went to Gabon to meet with the UN Protection officer as the spokesman for the Ogoni. Francis has been seeking asylum from the UN for several years. "If you are not safe or you are attacked the most acceptable place to go is to the United Nations," says Francis "[In Nigeria] It is not a strange idea…"

Five years later, Francis is now in New York on invitation from Partnership for Indigenous Peoples Environment, a non-government association (NGO) that is affiliated with the United Nations. On a recent weekday Francis came to the UN in New York to speak on a youth panel discussing how to "Create a Culture of Peace." It was a small event. About 40 people, members of NGOs and a few medium-tier UN employees, attended the forum. Francis talked about what peace meant to him as a person from a war-torn country with youth from the American suburbs.

Although the discussion was a rich one, Francis says he feels his words might have had much more impact if more people had been there to hear them. And, he says, he has noticed a pattern. Like Francis, many of the youth who come to the UN community are there to represent large numbers of people, and to be the voices that cannot be represented by large governments. And, like Francis’, their voices are often pushed to the margins.

"How many times have young people participated in General Assembly Discussions?" he asks. "They should include everyone. If African youth are not involved, who will speak for [all the] people displaced by war?"

		CONFERENCES Be like a UN official and join the world conference extravaganza. This summer there are two world youth summits: This August in Morocco, the World Congress of Youth will meet to focus on how young people can work to achieve sustainable development, as well as how young people can support the efforts of their countries in achieving the UN millennium goals. See www.maroc2003.org, or email contact@peachild.org. Also in August, the Peaceways-Young General Assembly will meet in Romania (email peaceways@igc.org). The Young General Assembly has democratic meetings each year for its 86 member organizations in 53 countries involving over 1 million young people. Peaceways, headquartered in San Mateo, California, is for youth up to age 24, but only those under 18 can vote on their resolutions. Read what Peaceways said in their address to the World Conference on Sustainable Development in 2002: "We examined thoroughly the causes for each of these issues and concluded the root causes are the desire for money (greed) and power, hatred and pride/revenge, education is not valued or funded enough, wealth is valued more than the environment and natural resources, there is widespread depression about the present and lack of hope about the future, too little value is placed on human life and labor, communication is not clear, there is a great lack of inner peace, and a widespread disallowance of child and youth participation." DOCUMENTS As for what you can use to lobby your own government, the General Assembly has adopted multiple resolutions on programs for youth (See the most recent resolution yourself, A/RES/56/117, on www.UN.org). These resolutions commit every UN member state to promoting youth participation in government, and reaffirm that resolutions and documents agreed upon at world conferences, like the World Programme of Action for Youth and the Dakar Framework for Action at the World Education Forum, will lead to action. Conference declarations and UN resolutions are meant to be used as tools by governments to develop goals and programs, but also can be used by citizens to hold their government accountable. 1 2 3 4 Next page » View as a single page   Many young people around the world have lived through experiences as refugees, child soldiers, AIDS orphans and victims of human rights abuses. Having youth representatives at the UN allows their voices to be heard, and brings new ideas, motivation and idealism to the world. Share - A A A Email Print Share LIKED THIS ARTICLE? 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Having youth representatives at the UN allows their voices to be heard, and brings new ideas, motivation and idealism to the world. 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