Delegate: Mr. Mikkel Näkkäläjärvi (25 years)
7. Mr. Näkkäläjärvi (Finland), speaking as a youth delegate, said that young people represented more than half of the world’s population and must be part of the solution to its problems. They could play a crucial role in reducing inequality, in particular by improving the status of women. Twenty years after the International Conference on Population and Development, many women had yet to realize the right to decide freely on questions of reproduction. Equal treatment and control of one’s body and sexual identity were human rights that should be enjoyed by all, yet over a third of the world’s women had experienced physical or sexual violence. Violence against women often revealed gender-based discrimination in society that originated from power structures favouring men. He therefore welcomed the entry into force in Finland of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combatting violence against women and domestic violence.
8. The Sustainable Development Goals were a tribute to the success of international cooperation and the key to a better future. Their adoption implied a commitment to strengthening the rights and opportunities of women and girls as, without gender equality, it would not be possible to reach the other goals. Gender equality would change societies and, thereby, the world.
UN Doc.: A/C.3/70/SR.2
Cite as:
UN Doc.: A/C.3/70/SR.2, 6 October 2015, p. 3, Youth Delegate Search: https://youthdelegatesearch.org/finland-2015/, doi: 10.17176/20221018-193234-0.