Federal Camp of the Swiss Scout Movement: UN Geneva to Join Thousands of Swiss Scouts to Encourage them to Act on the Sustainable Development Goals
About 20 United Nations employees* from Geneva will join nearly 5,000 volunteers who will converge in the Goms Valley to interact with some 30,000 Swiss scouts attending the two-week summer camp, which is organized only once every 14 years.
Some 1,000 Scouts will take part in the UN human rights workshop, dealing with inclusion and diversity, while thousands more are expected at the UN booth set up in the heart of the Scouts’ Global Village.
Workshops, interactive games, quizzes, videos and fireside chats are among the many activities the UN will offer to raise awareness among young people and adults about the Sustainable Development Goals, and encourage them to do their part to achieve the Goals by 2030.
Among other things, scouts will learn how to reduce their carbon footprint and why it is necessary to save the planet from plastic pollution, contribute to refugees’ education, reduce inequalities and promote human rights for all, become environmentally friendly food producers and consumers, and why decent work is essential, among many other topics.
“The Scout Movement is an important partner that can really boost the efforts already underway to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Tatiana Valovaya, Director-General of UN Geneva. “The values shared by the scouts are very close to UN values, based on respect for human rights and sustainable development. The UN’s participation in this camp is an excellent opportunity for us to get closer to young Swiss people from all regions of our host country and to raise their awareness of the issues that concern us all.”
The recent 2022 progress report on the Sustainable Development Goals shows that the SDGs are under serious threat due to multiple cascading crises that have occurred over the past few years, including the COVID-19 pandemic, global climate change and conflicts. These factors have all impacted the ability to make progress on the SDGs, and they have created further crises in food and nutrition, health, education, environment, and peace and security. This confluence of crises threatens not only the achievement of the SDGs, but our very survival.
Two large cube-shaped structures will form the UN stand. They will be adorned with panels highlighting the different SDGs. The stand, which will be open from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. for the duration of the camp, will be on the site of a former military airfield, in the heart of the valley, which will become the main boulevard of the Global Village. Extending over some 120 hectares, the camp will form a small town nestled between the bucolic villages of Geschinen and Ulrichen.
*United Nations Information Service, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), UN Agency for Refugees (UNHCR), Geneva Environmental Network, United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, United Nations Food and Agriculture (FAO), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Regional Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and UNITAR.