Interns with a Mission 2016

Dear Interns,
Excellencies,
Dear Colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen:

The historic Palais des Nations may be old, but today it is filled with youth. And with youth come energy, vision and creativity, all of which are urgently needed for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It is my great pleasure to welcome all of you to this third edition of “Interns with a Mission” and I would like to warmly thank the team of interns from Interpeace and UNOG who have organized the event. They have themselves become an example of how young people can contribute to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. And I would like to thank the Permanent Missions of Switzerland and Belgium for sponsoring the reception that we’ll have afterwards.

The United Nations has a long-standing commitment to promoting youth development including through the 1995 World Programme of Action of Youth and the more recent Youth System Wide Action Plan [Youth-SWAP]. Youth and development also represent two out of five priorities of the Secretary-General’s current five-year action plan. And the 2030 Agenda provides us with a powerful opportunity to build on these priorities.

Real and meaningful progress can only be achieved, when young people are fully engaged. One of the 17 goals of the 2030 Agenda is to end poverty in all its forms everywhere. If young individuals are empowered as agents of change, with 89% of the world youth population projected to live in developing countries by 2025, the potential for development is where it is needed most. Yet, based on the crowd-sourcing platform of the Global Partnership on Youth in the Post-2015 Development Agenda gathering over 1700 youth organizations, 2 out of 3 countries do not consult young people when preparing poverty reduction strategies or national development plans. This clearly must change if we want to reach the ambitious goals that Member States have agreed on last year in September.

But the Sustainable Development Goals do not only apply to developing countries. They really are “Global Goals.” So young people need to be involved around the world. You, as young actors across all levels of society, can hold governments accountable and contribute to change. And this is already happening. There are countless inspiring examples of youth involvement including Euforia, represented by Ms. Dreyfuss at today’s event.

To facilitate such engagement of young people, the UN Special Envoy for Youth is establishing a “Youth Gateway” for a new Global Youth Partnership for the SDGs. This is part of a process of rethinking and restructuring which also needs to include continued reflection on how we treat young people within our own organizations. We need young people thinking outside the box to challenge and inspire the United Nations. And as interns, you are all making crucial contributions to our work by bringing new ideas to the table. This needs to be encouraged across Permanent Missions, International Organizations and NGOs.

Here at UNOG, we have been reviewing our own internship programme to increase opportunities such as today’s event. But we also need to make sure that qualified young people from all parts of the world can join our organization as interns, regardless of their financial background. In this context, I welcome the ongoing discussions about fair remuneration of internships and hope that, together with our Member States, we will find a satisfying solution before long.

While empowered youth can be a major driver of the SDG implementation, the SDGs also need to deliver for young people. Fading prospects for young refugees in overcrowded camps illustrate this urgency most vividly and youth unemployment highlights it on a global scale: today, two out of every five young persons of working age are either unemployed or have jobs that don’t pay enough to escape poverty.

This is why the International Labour Organization here in Geneva launched the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth linked to the SDGs. And through a continued focus on education, health, gender equality and many other areas highlighted in the World Programme of Action of Youth, the SDGs, in combination with other recent agreements, have the potential to greatly improve conditions for young people. At the heart of these efforts will be many of the organizations here in International Geneva – the operational hub of the international system – some of which are represented at this event today.

Whether the SDGs provide enough opportunities for youth involvement and empowerment is up to you to discuss today and I am looking forward to a challenging debate. But whatever its outcome will be, it is clear that young people, as the next generation to inherit our planet, need to have a say in how we develop this planet. Without the full inclusion of young, motivated and idealistic people like you all around the globe, the international community will not reach the SDGs. We count on you!

It is now my pleasure to hand over to Charlotte Warakaulle, Director of International Relations at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, also known as CERN. She was instrumental in launching the Interns with a Mission events in 2014 and will be moderating today’s debate. Thank you all for being here.