On Friday, July 2, four Dominican Republic organizations held a conference at the United Nations about the “Empowerment of Young Women through Youth Delegates to the United Nations.”   This was a side event to the 2010 Substantive Session of the UN Economic and Social Council which took place on the day that the United Nations General Assembly formally adopted Resolution A/64/L.56, which establishes “UN Women” as the new gender equality entity at the UN. 

These were the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD), La Fundacion Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE), the United Nations Association of the Dominican Republic (UNA-DR) and the Permanent Mission of the Dominican Republic to the UN.

Convinced that empowering women and youth fuels thriving economies, and spurs productivity and growth, the Public-Private Alliance Foundation welcomes their involvement on national delegations.  PPAF regularly involves young women and men from different origins and cultures as interns.   PPAF also welcomes the creation of UN Women, which will be operational by January 2011.   PPAF further seeks to help achieve the aims of UN Women, to work for all women and girls toward achieving the goals of equality, development and peace all over the world.

Panelists at the July 2 event were:  Federico Alberto Cuello Camilo, Ambassador of the Dominican Republic to the United Nations in New York; Kerry Stefancyk, Program Coordinator for GFDD; Anik Kohli. UN Swiss youth delegate in 2008-2009; Fruzsina Molnar Straus, Communication and Program Officer at the World Federation of UN Associations (WFUNA); and Yamile Eusebio, Director of Formative Activities in FUNGLODE and Director of the New York GFDD office.  Pilar Sandoval, the Executive Director of UNA-DR was unable to join the panel.

The main theme of the meeting was to promote and show the value of youth delegates at the United Nations, and the extent youth representatives, in particular young women, are involved.

The United Nations Youth Program (in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs)  provides for young people to become representatives of their country at an international level. Promoting youth rights and fostering active participation in decision making bodies are the main purposes of the program.

Through their involvement, youth focus on the Millennium Development Goals, asserts Anik Kohli.   Contacting government ministries, organizing awareness raising projects through school visits, and study trips to the capital are among possible actions delegates can take. Furthermore, at an international level, thanks to the inclusion of youth delegates in a country’s official delegation, youth can be part in decision-making at the United Nations in the United Nations General Assembly and various functional Commissions of the Economic and Social Council such as the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) and Commission for Social Development (CSocD).

The role of a youth representative varies from country to country. One focus of a youth delegate’s work can be in the Third Committee, the part of the General Assembly that deliberates on Social, Cultural and Humanitarian Issues. In past instances, youth delegates have delivered statements on issues of concern to young people in the Third Committee, and have also taken part in the drafting of various youth resolutions. 

There are obviously many advantages in getting involved as a young delegate.  These can include learning about international affairs in a way that cannot be done as part of formal studies in a university, expansion of networks, and all the professional opportunities may result. According to Ambassador Cuello, youth involvement offers momentous opportunity and great experience. Furthermore, the youth involved bring new ideas to staff and perhaps are the diplomats of the future.

How and why to become a youth delegate:

One of the selection criteria is obviously to have a strong interest in international affairs and significant experience with youth organizations. Applicants must be ages from 18 to 25, ready to work at least 6 hours a week as a Youth Delegate and must at least speak English fluently, says Anik Kohli.

Some countries have existing youth representative programmes to select youth delegates, other do not. In the latter, youth need to lobby in their country on the importance of having a youth representative in its delegation to the UN General Assembly.  They need to write to the Minister of Foreign affairs and the Minister of Youth outlining the merits and how Youth are worth representing. The lobbying would be more compelling through cooperation with existing youth organizations in the country.  Each country has its own application process, thus interested youth have to inquire through their ministry of foreign affairs or a national youth council about how the application process works. Then they will need to apply accordingly.

Alejandro Javier, one of the three young delegates from Dominican Republic in 2009, said that the selection process for the Dominican Republic’s first ever Youth Delegation was thorough, and the competition was fierce. Alejandro presented his essay on Youth Empowerment, and the selection committee (composed of representatives from the United Nations and the Dominican Ministry of Foreign Affairs) evaluated it and warranted his inclusion in the second stage of the process. He was then interviewed and selected as one of the three Youth Representatives to the General Assembly that will represent the Dominican Republic.

Of course the youth can also get involved through various organizations. The United Nations Association for Dominican Republic, a non-profit organization, is dedicated exclusively to the empowering of youth in international affairs. The UNA-DR participant’s average age is from 19 to 23 years old and is composed of more women than men.

Yet, approximately one billion youth live in the world today. This means that one person in five is between the age of 15 and 24 years, or 18% of the world’s population is “youth”. Nevertheless only 26 countries are conscious that Youth participation not only leads to better decisions but is an integral part of a democratic society and so have a Youth Delegation to the U.N.  According to Ms. Yamile Eusebio, as Youth worldwide are touched by major issues such as education, employment, role of girls and young women, poverty, drug abuse, etc., it is vital that more countries select Youth delegates.

For more information:

Global Foundation for Democracy and Development: http://www.globalfoundationdd.org/gfdd/

La Fundacion Global Democracia y Desarrollo: http://www.funglode.org/

UN Youth Program:   http://www.un.org/youth     See also:   http://www.unyouth.com/

UN Women agency: http://www.unwomen.org/

Youth Delegates to the 64th Session of the General Assembly 2009 http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/ga64.htm

Swiss Delegation to the UN: http://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home/topics/intorg/un/missny.html