Secretary-General, at Youth Assembly, Urges ‘Leaders of Tomorrow’ to Stand Up for Human Rights, Social Justice, Climate Action

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message to the 2016 Summer Youth Assembly at the United Nations, as delivered by David Nabarro Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in New York today:

I am pleased to send greetings to the 2016 Summer Youth Assembly at the United Nations.  Your meeting occurs during the opening week of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.  I was privileged to attend the opening ceremony on Friday.  What I saw there confirmed, once again, my hope for humanity.

Thousands of athletes have undertaken arduous journeys for the privilege of competing for national and personal glory.  But, by coming together under the Olympic flag, they provide clear testament to a fundamental truth — while geography, culture and circumstance may divide us, we all belong to a single human family.

This truth also underlies the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its solemn pledge to leave no one behind.  The Agenda — with its 17 interlinked and complementary Sustainable Development Goals — is a visionary road map for transforming how we live with each other and how we care for the environment that sustains us.  It is a blueprint for people and planet, peace and prosperity.

The task of implementation began this year, and must be pursued with vigour in the coming one-and-a-half decades.  Success will depend on innovative and dynamic partnerships and the active engagement of all sectors of society.  Youth are among the most important actors.

You are the leaders of tomorrow — the mothers and fathers, teachers and entrepreneurs, mayors and ministers who will shape our world.  But you already wield vast influence — as consumers, as social mobilizers, as members of the largest generation of youth this world has ever seen.

You are not — and should never be — passive recipients of policies defined by your leaders.  You have a voice, and critical role in shaping and implementing the policies that will determine your future.  I urge you to use your power for the common good.  Stand up for climate action, and speak out for human rights and social justice.  Use your social networks to replace the voices of division and violent extremism with the understanding and compassion that our world needs.

The theme of your meeting is transforming vision into action.  That is what I expect you to do.  It is what our world needs you to do.  Wherever you are from, and wherever you are going, you have a crucial role to play in building a world of peace, dignity and opportunity where no one is left behind.

I wish you a productive and successful meeting.