UN Chief urges world to address challenges faced by world's youth

FILE PHOTO: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres (3rdL) sits in a mosque in Mopti, central Mali, talking to local leaders and worshippers May 30, 2018. Guterres vowed to pursue support for an anti-terror force gathering five Sahel nations, despite a US rebuff for UN funding. /VCG Photo

The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged the international community to do more to address various challenges faced by young people who are encountering such problems as inadequate participation opportunities and exclusion from political decision-making.

Guterres said the world should open doors for the youth to be part of the search for solutions including the current COVID-pandemic.

"The world cannot afford a lost generation of youth, their lives set back by COVID-19 and their voices stifled by a lack of participation," he said.

"Let us do far more to tap their talents as we tackle the pandemic and chart a recovery that leads to a more peaceful, sustainable and equitable future for all."

Guterres made the remarks as he presented his first report on Security Council Resolution 2250. He listed how COVID-19 has impacted the world's young people, with more than 1.5 billion of them now out of the classroom. The youth were already facing other challenges, posed by among other things, violence and conflict.

The UN chief in his call for investment in youth participation issued a four-point call to action for the Council, urging members to do more to address the various challenges facing young people.

"We must strengthen human rights protections and protect the civic space on which youth participation depends," he said.

"And fourth, we must emerge from the COVID-19 crisis with a determination to recover better – massively increasing our investment in young people's capacities as we deliver the Sustainable Development Goals."

Source(s): United Nations