United Nations (Antara/Xinhua-OANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon on Wednesday called on young people across the world to use their strength to advance the UN's new sustainable development goals.
Calling the youth today the "SDG generation", Ban said at an event marking the International Youth Day that the goals are for young people and can only be achieved with them.
"The goals aim to tackle systematic problems that young people understand so well -- like inequality, wasteful consumerism and the lack of decent jobs," he said, stressing that the youth face many challenges, including poverty, conflicts and unemployment.
"But young people are not simply accepting this as their fate. They are rising up to challenge power structures...speaking out for justice and human rights... and advocating global action for people and the planet," he added.
Earlier this month, negotiators from 193 UN member states agreed on a draft blueprint for sustainable development over the next 15 years which will be adopted at a United Nations Summit in late September at UN Headquarters in New York.
Highlighting that young people have unprecedented networks and potentials to mobilize the world, Ban urged member states to include youth in the delegations for the upcoming summit to adopt the agenda, adding that the youth can lead the world to a better future.
In 1999, UN General Assembly declared Aug. 12 as International Youth Day. The theme for 2015 is youth civic engagement.
The UN has recognized that the engagement and participation of youth is essential to achieve sustainable human development. Yet often the opportunities for youth to engage politically, economically and socially are low or non-existent.(*)
