The CSD day by day

The Youth Delegates at the 49th CSD f hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhAhhhhhAt the Permanent mission of Germany, 14 Feb 2011

14 february 2011

The highlight of the first day would definitely be a side event at the permanent mission of Germany titled „More than just an opportunity – Youth Delegate Programs to the United Nations“ where I got chance to introduce the Slovakian YD Programme as the best practices. In my 10 min. speech I emphasized 3 main aspects:

- The necessity of continuous advancement of the programme. There is always chance to make the programme better and add something new to it, which I see positively in Slovakia. I gave few examples, among them our last success in arranging an internship at MFA as an integral part of the programme.

- I spoke about the structure and organization of the programme in Slovakia and about the selection procedure that differs country to country.

- I stressed the need to improve the link between youth delegates and young people, to share the examples and activities that proved working in different programme countries.
After my talk, I have received variety of questions, for example from the representative of the EU delegation and the Iraqi Ambassador.

15 february 2011

I participated in an informal session on the modalities of the World Youth Conference (WYC) 2011. The discussion was going around the possible dates, the duration and about who can take part in it. What is the problem with the dates? Well, there are many events in the worlds' calendar for June to August period; ECOSOC meeting in Geneva, African Union's high level group on youth and Ramadan – how can it be fitted in between, for the satisfaction of all? One thing became clear – the conference will take 2 days. There were efforts to make it longer, but potential budget implications killed the idea. Who can take part in the this upcoming UN conference is not clear either. One side wants to keep the participants list to government related youth and the other side advocates for a „real youth participation“ from all NGOs. Now, there is a talk about allowing youth organizations with ECOSOC status to participate in the WYC. The next informal is on 23 february 2011, we will find out more then.

The next informal of the day was on the youth resolution. Here one did not need long to notice presence of 2 school of thoughts:

1- Egypt, Tunisia, Syria and Venezuela taking lead, against all clauses empowering the position of young people.

2- EU and Switzerland as the main proponents, promoting youth participation and calling upon member states to involve young people in the UN work.
The discussion went further than I imagined. The arguments of group 1 went along this line: We suggest to soften the language of the resolution because the countries are not in the same position to send youth representatives. Maybe you have also wondered, what have the youth delegates done so far? Here is my answer, with big thanks to those who helped with creating this list. I believe in benefits of the YD programme.

In the evening I visited Dambisa Moyo's talk on development assistance in the Free Library in Philadelphia. Unfortunately Moyo announced "No questions, please" while signing her new book.

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16 february 2011

In the morning we were working the previously mentioned positive input of the youth delegates, in case today's informal on youth resolution continues in the same spirit of yesterday's criticism of the YD programme. To my surprise, this meeting was much more constructive, maybe because it was the final meeting. In the end, we agreed by consensus on the text of the youth resolution.

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17 february 2011

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Youth delegates were meeting the UN Program on Youth and later the World Federation of UN Associations (WFUNA).

18 february 2011

The formal session of the CSD and adopting the youth resolution. I heard many comments like „it could have been worse“. I don't know.

Later that day I met our representative from the permanent mission as well as another member of the delegation to discuss the quickly passed week.

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I was glad to be live where a new youth resolution was created - so thanks to all who helped me becoming the first Slovak Youth Delegate at the CSD!

What have the Youth Delegates done so far?

The positive input of the Youth Delegates - maybe you have also wondered once? The list is not final yet.

1. Examples of best practices
Australia In 2009 the YD visited all states of Australia, meeting young people with all different backgrounds (with a specific focus on young people with fewer opportunities) and discussed their life circumstances and concerns; on each visit he asked the young people to write a letter to the prime minister, raising their relevant issues; he also brought these young people's voices to the UN and made it a central part of his speech. By doing so he was able to get peer-to-peer feedback about the needs of young people in a direct way and bring these needs to the UN.
Germany Every year German YD are doing a tour around Germany, meeting and discussing with young people; and organize a side event every year on the YD Program.
Saudi Arabia The Saudi Permanent Mission to the UN set up a YD Program in 2010 and organized a side event on intercultural understanding.
In Peru the Youth Delegate Program has created an interest for UN related topics among youth; the existence of such a programme has activated a group of young people in the National Youth Council who is working towards implementing UN resolutions and commitments into national/local policies. This interest can be achieved by a peer-to-peer encounter. Therefore Member States (also in developing countries) should look at the YD Program as an opportunity for development and cooperation.

2. What have we done concretely in the UN, New York
Example 1: Youth Delegates proposed language to the recent GA resolution A/RES/64/130, which was adopted by consensus, on non-formal education to prepare the young people for the green economy (Paragraph 5).
Example 2: The YDs also proposed paragraph on intergenerational dialogue to the resolution on ageing (at the GA in October 2010, RES/65/182, paragraph 13) which speaks about solidarity among generations.
Example 3 (to be further specified): Clause on HIV-tests.

And we still work on achieving more.

The UN Commission for Social Development: Delegates back to NYC

The 49th Session of the CSocD will take place at the UN, between 9 - 18 February 2011. The Slovak delegation is composed of 5 members, and me, the youth delegate, among them.

The youth delegates are traditionally represented in smaller number here than at the GA. Which countries send a youth delegate this year? To my knowledge, apart form us, Bulgaria, Russia, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Viet Nam. We will be a small group with big plans!

The youth resolution is negotiated every two years- during my stay at the last session of the GA, that was a year with no youth resolution. But the draft of the next resolution to be discussed and voted on on the 66th session of the GA (my successor's job), will be born and worked on here, at the CSocD.

The delegates' Googlegroup conversation is getting intense, which gives me a feeling of productive and exciting time at the UN in 1 week's time! Please check my blog again then.