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STORY: UN / YOUTH FORUM
TRT: 02:44
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 15 APRIL 2025, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Aerial shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters
15 APRIL 2025, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, ECOSOC Chamber
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Robert Rae, President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), United Nations:
“The world's most pressing problems are not abstract or distant. They are within reach, and they rely on the creative and the innovative ideas that intergenerational dialogue can bring forward every single day. It's not about passing the torch from one generation to the next. It's about a conversation between all generations in which we need young people to be at the table and really being present in the conversation and in the discussion.”
4. Wide shot, ECOSOC Chamber
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Robert Rae, President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), United Nations:
“Technology is transforming the world and young people, you all, are at the very heart of this transformation. However, it is essential that we acknowledge the challenges that remain. Many young people, particularly in low-income countries and marginalised communities, do not have the access to the technology and the digital infrastructure that could help them unlock their full potential.”
6. Wide shot, ECOSOC Chamber
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Oumaima Makhlouk, Data Thematic Focal Point, Science Policy Interface (SPI) Youth Platform, Major Group on Children and Youth (MGCY):
“Safe childbirth cannot be a privilege; it must be a universal right. And children and youth can no longer be mass casualties of the military industrial complex. Gaza is not only a humanitarian crisis, it is a deep wound in the heart and soul of our humanity, one that will never heal. A place where youth dream under bombs, where babies are killed, where hostages are afraid for their lives.”
8. Wide shot, ECOSOC Chamber
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Felipe Paullier, Assistant Secretary-General for Youth Affairs, United Nations Youth Office:
“As all of us look around this room, I think we are clear that we are seeing the faces of change. Young people from every corner of the world who refuse to accept the status quo. You are here because you know that the challenges we face cannot be solved without you.”
10. Wide shot, ECOSOC Chamber
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Felipe Paullier, Assistant Secretary-General for Youth Affairs, United Nations Youth Office:
“From Gaza to Sudan to Yemen to Myanmar to Ukraine, we must acknowledge a very painful truth, we are living in a world experiencing more conflict that at any point since the Second World War. The SDGs are off track. The planet is degrading at an alarming pace due to human actions.”
12. Wide shot, ECOSOC Chamber
Assistant Secretary-General for Youth Affairs Felipe Paullier today (14 Apr) told the Economic and Social Council’s (ECOSOC) Youth Forum that young people “know that the challenges we face cannot be solved” without them.
Opening the session Canadian Ambassador and President of the ECOSOC Robert Rae said, “the world's most pressing problems are not abstract or distant. They are within reach, and they rely on the creative and the innovative ideas that intergenerational dialogue can bring forward every single day.”
Rae said it was not “about passing the torch from one generation to the next. It's about a conversation between all generations in which we need young people to be at the table and really being present in the conversation and in the discussion.”
The Canadian diplomat said, “technology is transforming the world and young people, you all, are at the very heart of this transformation. However, it is essential that we acknowledge the challenges that remain. Many young people, particularly in low-income countries and marginalised communities, do not have the access to the technology and the digital infrastructure that could help them unlock their full potential.”
Oumaima Makhlouk, addressed the Forum on behalf of the Major Group on Children and Youth (MGCY) and said, “safe childbirth cannot be a privilege; it must be a universal right,” and stressed that “children and youth can no longer be mass casualties of the military industrial complex.”
Makhlouk said, “Gaza is not only a humanitarian crisis, it is a deep wound in the heart and soul of our humanity, one that will never heal. A place where youth dream under bombs, where babies are killed, where hostages are afraid for their lives.”
Paullier, for his part said, “from Gaza to Sudan to Yemen to Myanmar to Ukraine, we must acknowledge a very painful truth, we are living in a world experiencing more conflict that at any point since the Second World War. The SDGs are off track. The planet is degrading at an alarming pace due to human actions.”
The Forum provides a platform for young people to engage in a dialogue with Member States and other stakeholders to share their views and concerns as well as galvanize actions and recommendations to transform the world into a fairer, greener and more sustainable place led by the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The ECOSOC Youth Forum will be guided by the 2025 theme of ECOSOC and the High-level Political Forum (HLPF): “Advancing sustainable, inclusive, science- and evidence-based solutions for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals for leaving no one behind”.
