Launching Strategy for Youth in Somalia, Deputy Secretary-General Calls Young People ‘Driving Force’ in Advancing Peace, Sustainable Development Goals

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at the side event “Investing in Somali Youth” at the High-Level Partnership Forum on Somalia, in Istanbul today:

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I am very pleased to be with you this morning.  I have a special affinity for Somalia since my time as Emergency Relief Coordinator in the early 1990s.  I will never forget the suffering and violence which afflicted Somalia in 1992 when I visited the country.

Let me offer a special welcome to the young people of Somalia who are joining us today.  I bring you warm greetings from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who attaches great importance to empowering Somali youth, and indeed, young people across the world.

We, Somalia’s partners and friends, are not here to do something for you.  We are here to work together with you for a better future.  We are guided by your needs and aspirations and also by the voices and views that are being heard at this meeting and at the women’s side event that is proceeding in parallel with this one.

The United Nations is grateful to the President of Turkey and the Government of Turkey for hosting this important event.  We also commend President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, and Somalia’s federal and regional ministers of youth, for their leadership in galvanizing international support for the empowerment of the country’s young population.

The time has come for Somalia’s youth to enjoy the freedoms and opportunities that are every person’s birthright.  More than 80 per cent of Somalia’s people are under the age of 35.  You, the young, are the face of hope and peace for Somalia.  Your creativity and entrepreneurship can be the engine and spirit of the country’s recovery.  You can bring your country out of poverty and conflict, if you get education, job opportunities and full participation in the life of your nation.

You can be a driving force behind Somalia’s implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.  Rebuilding Somalia — its roads and bridges, irrigation systems, farms, police stations and schools — depends on the young Somali men and women who are to be the country’s engineers, farmers, police officers, teachers, lawyers and political leaders.

Equally important is to assume that young people are represented in national, regional and local governance institutions.  I commend President Mohamud and other Somali leaders for striving for the active participation of youth in the 2016 electoral model.

I also welcome last year’s ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.  This convention is a milestone in Somalia’s efforts to secure the well-being and human rights of every child.

Somalia’s young people have in recent decades gone through too much pain and despair.  Boys and men, girls and women have as children faced challenges that no one anywhere should have to face.  Today, as Somalia makes steady progress, they are the country’s best hope for a clean break from decades of senseless violence.

It is, therefore, an honour for me to launch the new UN Strategy for Youth in Somalia.  In support of Somalia’s national strategy on youth, the UN Strategy will focus on the critical issues of employment and entrepreneurship.  It will focus on human rights and civic engagement.  It will focus on political inclusion, education, health.  All in all, it will basically focus on peacebuilding.

The Government’s national policy on youth and [the] Strategy will serve as a basis for the UN country team to design programmes that will empower youth to participate fully in the rebuilding of Somalia.  The reflections from youth representatives here today are an important part of a broader conversation that will continue with the work of our UN team.

I trust that we soon will see the fruits of the ideas and programmes presented here today, wanting a better future for Somalia and its people.  The people of Somalia deserve a life in peace, well-being and dignity.