Delegate: Mr. Mark Klamberg (26 years)
19. Mr. Klamberg (Sweden), speaking as youth representative in his delegation, on agenda item 108, expressed regret that too few countries, in particular the developing countries, had included youth representatives in their delegations. In the era of globalization, young people, who are well aware of the difficulties, challenges and opportunities connected with that phenomenon, could play an active role in the development of a democratic system and should be included in decision-making at the local, national, regional and global levels so that their concerns, in particular with regard to access to education, health and security, could be taken into account.
20. In Sweden, many local authorities had established youth councils so that young people could be involved in politics and make known their views, although to a large extent, for such bodies to be truly effective, local officials had to be willing to listen. At the international level, young people had prepared a common statement during the World Health Organization (WHO) European Ministerial Conference on Young People and Alcohol and had been active participants in the working group and plenary discussions. He called on Member States to implement the Dakar Youth Empowerment Strategy adopted by the fourth World Youth Forum, which contained valuable recommendations on areas of specific concern to youth, [*6*] such as how to bridge the digital divide, the fight against unemployment and poverty, the environment, social integration, conflict prevention through the building of a culture of peace, participation, combating discrimination, and the fight against HIV/AIDS, which currently affected millions of young people. In order to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic, strategies must be implemented which took into account young people’s lifestyle, stressing information and the use of condoms, the most effective method to date to stop the spread of infection.
21. Finally, with regard to health and young people, he called attention to the fate of women who were victims of genital mutilation, a practice which violated their basic right to control their own bodies and called on Member States to take steps to put an end to that practice, for example by increasing awareness and organizing open discussion in the communities concerned and including revision of their penal codes.
UN Doc.: A/C.3/56/SR.7
Cite as:
UN Doc.: A/C.3/56/SR.7, 11 October 2001, p. 5-6, Youth Delegate Search: https://youthdelegatesearch.org/sweden-2001/, doi: 10.17176/20221018-195052-0.