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The UN continues to focus on youth participation in their work, and helps to bring the needs, priorities and rights of young people youth into major discussions. At a dialogue by UN Women, our reporter Feng Yilei spoke to youth envoy Jayathma Wickramanayake, about her advocacy and achievements.
JAYATHMA WICKRAMANAYAKE UN SECRETARY-GENERAL'S ENVOY ON YOUTH "One of the biggest achievements in the last year was the production of the UN's youth strategy. The strategy really looks into the UN and tries to shake a little bit of our foundations to be able to work better with more young people to be an organization that is more youth friendly, that is modern, that is twenty-first century and really speaks into young people but also at the same time bring more youth voices into the work of the UN."
FENG YILEI BEIJING "What is the significance of the UN's programme on youth? And what is the role of youth in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development?"
JAYATHMA WICKRAMANAYAKE UN SECRETARY-GENERAL'S ENVOY ON YOUTH "Those two are really important questions. The world right now is the youngest it has ever been. I often say that it's the best of the times to be a young person and it's also the worst of the times. It's the best of the times because as I said we are the largest generation ever in the history, we are the most interconnected generation and we have access to knowledge, information and opportunities like no other generation before. But at the same time, we have about 600 million young people living in conflict-affected areas. We have about 71 million young people right now unemployed. So young people really comprise the two parts or the two elements of the SDG agenda. That is the implementation of it by being partners and on the other hand, being a large portion of the beneficiaries of the 2030 agenda. Young people need to hold our governments accountable. We have to question what they are doing to implement the SDGs and really keep pushing so that we are moving on the right direction and also moving at the right speed to reach 2030."
FENG YILEI BEIJING "How do you view gender equality and youth engagement coming together, both in a global context and China context? And how does gender equality play a part in the process of reaching the Sustainable Development Goals?"
JAYATHMA WICKRAMANAYAKE UN SECRETARY-GENERAL'S ENVOY ON YOUTH "Well, if you don't achieve goal five, you won't achieve the rest 16 goals. We can't leave 50% of our population behind and think about a developed or a sustainable world. At the heart of sustainable development, at heart of the 2030 agenda is the empowerment of women and girls. But equal focus should be given to that presentation or the participation of women and girls in processes that define sustainable development as well. It could be the national of municipal or country-level policies that formulate the implementation of the sustainable development agenda. It could be the implementation of those policies itself or it could be the monitoring and review of those processes. Women and girls need to have a seat at the table."
FENG YILEI BEIJING "Young people also play a crucial role in impacting societal norms and entrepreneurship. How do you believe your efforts on youth strategies will help generate innovation?"
JAYATHMA WICKRAMANAYAKE UN SECRETARY-GENERAL'S ENVOY ON YOUTH "The Deputy Secretary General of the UN says that women face glass ceilings but youth face concrete ceilings. Millennium and the generations are, I believe, two of the generations that are more socially and environmentally conscious. So there are exceptional young people who have broken these concrete ceilings. And people like you the media also has a strong role to play in showcasing those positive stories and telling those stories to a wider public, to break those myths and misconceptions."