Delegate: Mr. Christensen
19. Mr. Christensen (Denmark), speaking as a youth delegate for Denmark and a representative of the Danish Youth Council, said that, with more than 1 billion people between the ages of 15 and 24 years in the world, not only the future but also the present belonged to youth. For the sake of continuity and future development, it was vital to recognize the potential of young people and to integrate them in decision-making and in the implementation of development programmes.
20. He urged the United Nations to increase the youth presence in the Secretariat and in development organizations and recommended that all Member States should consider sending youth representatives to the General Assembly, as his own country had been doing for 25 years, in order to send a strong signal that they took youth-related issues seriously. Increased financial resources for and greater coordination of the youth policies of the United Nations system were also essential.
21. Young people and youth organizations could play a vital role in the expansion of global networks and thereby contribute to democratization on an international level. Under its new strategy for development cooperation, his Government viewed children and youth as a resource in development and it would attempt to address youth-related issues in developing countries. Accordingly, it urged the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) either to devote an entire Human Development Report to youth or to expand the statistics and documentation on young people aged 15 to 24 years in future reports. That would be a landmark initiative in anticipation of the special session of the General Assembly for follow-up [*5*] to the World Summit for Children to be held in 2001. Such reporting should focus on lessons learned and obstacles encountered with regard to youth participation in different programmes and activities with a view to formulating proposals for future youth involvement in development activities.
UN Doc.: A/C.3/55/SR.4
Cite as:
UN Doc.: A/C.3/55/SR.4, 26 September 2000, p. 4-5, Youth Delegate Search: https://youthdelegatesearch.org/denmark-2000/, doi: 10.17176/20221018-195127-0.