Dozens of youth delegates, representing some 226 million young people from 46 least developed countries (LDCs), took centre stage on Tuesday at a United Nations conference under way in Doha, Qatar, to spotlight a range of development issues affecting them and their countries.
Today, the world counts 1.8 billion young people between the ages of 10 and 24: the largest such generation in history. Close to 90 per cent of those in this age range live in developing countries, where they make up a large proportion of the population.
However, from the ever-increasing effects of climate change to the ongoing global health and socio-economic fallout of COVID-19 pandemic and the consequences of the measures to counteract it, young people worldwide are suffering the repercussions of issues caused by previous generations. In all this, the present and future of young people in LDCs - already highly vulnerable to economic and environmental shocks and have low levels of human assets - are at stake.
Against this backdrop, the Fifth Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5) is working to ensure young people are at the heart of the plans to realize the Doha Programme of Action (DPoA) - which aims at removing structural obstacles to comprehensive growth and sustainable development - by addressing their needs and empowering them in furthering progress.
'No generation left behind'
"If young people are not meaningfully included in our work, the goals we set in the DPoA, and the 2030 Agenda, will remain unfulfilled," warned Rabab Fatima, the UN High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS) during an Intergenerational Dialogue at LDC5.
The Dialogue brought together young people from the LDCs, with world leaders, heads of state and government, decision-makers, senior UN officials and senior diplomats.
"We must listen to the voices of young people and include them in the decision-making process, and in follow-up actions, as they are the ones who will be most affected by the outcomes," explained Ms. Fatima, who is also the Secretary-General of the LDC5 Conference.
She stressed: "It was always our ambition for this Conference to bring together every part of society - every decision maker, the private sector, youth, civil society organizations and every other stakeholder - to ensure that no voice was unheard, no idea untested, no generation left behind."
During the interactive discussion, young people shared their actions, ideas and good practices and identified challenges in the implementation of the Doha action plan, while UN Member States and other stakeholders shared their commitments to involve young people in its implementation at the national, regional, and global levels.
