Delegates: Ms. Pacharaporn Panomwon Na Ayutthaya (23 years), Ms. Ploypailin Rupavijetra (19 years)
87. Ms. Panomwon Na Ayutthaya (Thailand), speaking as a youth delegate, said that global insufficiency in an interconnected world accounted for the paradox of significant industrial productivity and famine and poverty existing side by side, but such interconnectedness could also be used to create a sufficient economy for the future. As she understood it, sufficiency should allow human beings to lead a comfortable life, without overindulgence in luxury, as excess could better be employed to meet the basic needs of many. By contrast, the current structure of the financial economy would impede both material subsistence with dignity and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. The concept of a sufficiency economy championed by her Government, while not necessarily attractive in market terms, would ensure that basic needs were met, an approach that would prove useful in addressing education, health care, use of natural resources and, most important, decisions in daily life. Such an approach would, in turn, help create a more fulfilled and less troubled world.
88. Ms. Rupavijetra (Thailand), speaking as a youth delegate, said that support for youth participation in decision-making processes was a sign of recognition of the significant contribution young people could make. For instance, youth could help put an end to the cycle of poverty if strategic investments were made in education. Indeed, youth development through education had been among her country’s top priorities over the previous decade, as demonstrated by its policy of sponsoring free 15-year education for all and its expansion of financial aid for vocational and higher education. Thailand had also ensured greater access to education and social acceptance for persons with disabilities and other marginalized groups, as it held the view that members of those groups had the potential to become an important force for progress towards building a society for all.
89. Despite progress in promoting youth participation in development, many youths around the world remained, sadly, ignorant of their power to shape the future. Greater awareness of that capacity and of issues of common concern to humanity must therefore be promoted among the young, in order to encourage them to help address those needs.
UN Doc.: A/C.3/65/SR.2
Cite as:
UN Doc.: A/C.3/65/SR.2, 4 October 2010, p. 12, Youth Delegate Search: https://youthdelegatesearch.org/thailand-2010/, doi: 10.17176/20221018-194121-0.