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Speech

Switzerland – 2010

Delegate: Ms. Laura Crivelli (21 years)

67. Ms. Crivelli (Switzerland), speaking as the youth representative of Switzerland, said that access to training and productive employment were international priorities. A young person who was educated, knowledgeable and independent was not only a major asset to the economy, but also a driving force for social cohesion.

68. Young people should be provided with moral support, for example, from career counsellors, and with financial support through minimal social protection and the creation of apprenticeships and internships, drawing on strengthened public-private partnerships. That would help to reduce the risk of social marginalization and of young people losing their way as they transitioned from training to working life. Discriminatory practices affecting the employment of young people (such as underpayment and excessive workloads) must be eliminated by setting up a training system which combined formal and informal education, and infrastructure to help them to manage their professional futures. Those steps would in turn help to strengthen the national economy and make it more dynamic.

69. The traditional family-based social structure was becoming increasingly characterized by high individual mobility, rapid social and economic changes, and extreme inequalities. Convinced that the participation of all groups of society, including immigrants, the poor and young people, was required in order to strike the right social balance and find a solution to their problems, Switzerland had made the participation of young people central to its reform of youth policy.

70. Young people wanted to be recognized as indispensable to resolving current social and economic problems. The theme of the International Year of Youth, “Dialogue and Mutual Understanding”, aimed not only to promote harmony among young people of different origins and social strata, but also to promote intergenerational cooperation, which must be strengthened through the creation of synergies, the sharing of knowledge and by pooling together the particular strengths of each age group.

UN Doc.: A/C.3/65/SR.1

Original Records

Cite as:
UN Doc.: A/C.3/65/SR.1, 4 October 2010, p. 9, Youth Delegate Search: https://youthdelegatesearch.org/switzerland-2010/, doi: 10.17176/20221018-194126-0.

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