Delegate: Mr. Hamza Ibrahim
18. Mr. Ibrahim (Sweden), speaking as a youth delegate, said that the maintenance of international peace and security must encompass a variety of stakeholders. Young people under the age of 30 accounted for as much as one third of the world’s population but were often not able to contribute to the discourse on that subject. Given their tremendous potential as positive agents of change and in building sustainable peace in their societies, they must be allowed to engage and take part in decision-making at all levels. Peace was crucial for development and mechanisms must be put in place to protect youth from violent conflict.
19. In addition to the traditional drivers of forced displacement, such as persecution and armed conflict, people were obliged to leave their homes for a variety of complex reasons including poverty, lack of access to health services, education, water, food and housing, environmental degradation and climate change. Migrants in an irregular situation should not be treated as criminals. In the absence of safe pathways for migration, many migrants were compelled to enter and stay in countries of destination irregularly, and were exposed to abuse, exploitation, and even torture and death by a range of perpetrators, including corrupt state officials and traffickers. The detention of children because of their parents’ migration status was a clear violation of the rights of the child and tantamount to torture. With the rise in anti-immigration sentiment and racism in many countries, advocacy on behalf of the voiceless was increasingly important. The forthcoming Intergovernmental Conference to Adopt the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, would be an opportunity for world leaders and the young people he represented to ensure that the voices of migrant children and youth would be heard by world leaders and decision makers.
UN Doc.: A/C.3/73/SR.3
Cite as:
UN Doc.: A/C.3/73/SR.3, 3 October 2018, p. 4, Youth Delegate Search: https://youthdelegatesearch.org/sweden-2018/, doi: 10.17176/20221018-192042-0.