General Assembly Recognizes Role of UN Youth Office to Bolster Young People’s Engagement in Global Issues, Advance Agreed Multilateral Frameworks

Delegates Also Adopt Drafts Concerning Upcoming High-Level Meetings on Anti-Microbial Resistance, Existential Threat Posed by Sea-Level Rise

The General Assembly today acknowledged the contribution of the recently created United Nations Youth Office to increased youth engagement in global issues, while also taking up other matters related to the key events in the upcoming Assembly session in September.

“The vision of the future we want cannot be fully achieved without young people and their active contribution to the work of the United Nations,” said the representative of Slovakia, stressing that the establishment of the Youth Office in 2022 was “undoubtedly a crucial step in fostering the position of youth and amplifying their voice”.  Portugal’s delegate also expressed a view that the establishment of the Youth Office reflects “an improvement in engagement with youth”, welcoming the growing recognition of young people’s role in advancing the agreed global framework.

The European Union has pledged to contribute €1 million to the Youth Office, its representative said, in its capacity as observer, encouraging the Office to be ambitious in implementing its mandate.  She also welcomed that the entity is funded by the UN regular budget, which provides it with a new degree of financial stability, autonomy and independence.  The Office should work across the UN system in a cross-cutting way to ensure that young persons are meaningfully engaged in all UN processes, she urged.

“This a significant milestone achievement,” said South Africa’s delegate, citing the appointment of Assistant Secretary-General for Youth Affairs Felipe Paullier as “the youngest-ever senior official in the history of the United Nations”.  She recalled that the Youth Office is tasked with rejuvenating UN workforce and has reviewed the Organization’s internship programmes, stressing the need to ensure that they are coherent, fair and especially accessible to young people from across the world, particularly from regions such as hers where youth unemployment is high.

Echoing such a view, her counterpart from India said that the Office must be stringent in achieving a geographical balance in its activities and representation.  It must amplify the voices of youth from all regions, particularly from developing countries. 

However, the speaker for Malta expressed concern about a decrease in the number of young people briefing the Security Council and the Peacebuilding Commission in recent years.  “We must ensure the voices of young persons are not only heard but acted upon,” she emphasized.  Greater resources and political will are essential to fully implement the youth, peace and security agenda, she said, calling for increased engagement from the Youth Office in that endeavour.  On that, Guyana’s diplomat pointed out that many youth live in conflict-affected areas. “In areas with protracted conflicts, we have seen children move to adolescence and even adulthood without peace,” she stated, highlighting the critical role of youth in peacebuilding — including in mediation efforts and peace processes.

“Peace, justice and development can only be achieved with a meaningful inclusion of the voice of young people around the world at all levels,” said the representative of the Netherlands, while Egypt’s delegate emphasized the need to promote the youth agenda, increase investment in education and scientific programmes and ensure experience transfer for young people in developing countries.

The representative of the Russian Federation stressed that young people are the most progressive section of society, ready to bring to life the most progressive reforms.  However, they can become a subject of political manipulation and become influenced by extremist ideas, she cautioned, underscoring the need to combat such trends.

In other business, the Assembly adopted a draft resolution (document A/78/L.100) related to the 25 September high-level plenary meeting on addressing the existential threats posed by sea-level rise.  By the text, the overall theme of the event was determined to be “Addressing the threats posed by sea level rise.”

The 193-member organ also decided that the high-level meeting — comprising an opening segment, a plenary segment, four multi-stakeholder thematic panel discussions and a brief closing segment — will focus on building common understanding, mobilizing political leadership and promoting multisectoral and multi-stakeholder collaboration and international cooperation towards the objective of addressing the threats posed by sea-level rise.

In a related orally revised decision (document A/78/L.101), the Assembly requested its President to organize a similar one-day high-level plenary meeting no later than the last day of the general debate at its eighty-first session in 2026 to further consider sea-level rise, which will result in “a concise, action-oriented and intergovernmentally negotiated declaration agreed by consensus”.

To that end, the Secretary-General was requested to prepare a report, including by inviting contributions from Member States, to be submitted near the conclusion of the seventy-ninth session or early in the eightieth session to provide information on challenges related to sea-level rise and on ways and approaches to address the issue.

Negotiations on "L .100" were co-facilitated by Costa Rica and New Zealand. 

“This high-level meeting marks the vital start of a long-overdue dialogue on the significant threat that sea-level rise poses to many Member States,” said the representative of the former, who also spoke for the latter.  At this moment, “sea-level rise is no longer a step-child of the climate-change regime,” she said, adding that “it now has a home, and that home is this General Assembly”.

The representative of Samoa, speaking on behalf of the Alliance of Small Islands States, requested that the summary of the September high-level meeting be concise and action-oriented for it to be useful in driving action.  He also urged that the Assembly President — when developing the panels — tap numerous experts in small islands that can speak to the science, traditional knowledge and impacts of sea-level rise.  He went on to announce that the Heads of State and Government of the Alliance will adopt a normative declaration on sea-level rise and statehood and present it during the high-level meeting, encouraging other States to join it.

The representative of Germany, speaking on behalf of the Coalition for Addressing Sea-level Rise and its Existential Threats, stated:  “We cannot ignore the gravity of the situation on the ground.”  While welcoming the decision’s recognition of the urgency of addressing the matter and its multidimensional nature, the Coalition would have liked to see a stronger emphasis on concrete actions, as well as a regular review of the commitments made vis-à-vis addressing sea-level-rise threats.

For Tuvalu, “sea-level rise is the single greatest threat to our future survivability as a nation and as a people”, said its representative, underscoring the urgent need for comprehensive international action.  “Let us not be remembered as the generation that stood idly by while entire nations vanished beneath the waves,” he said, adding:  “Instead, let us rise to the challenge, united and resolute, to safeguard our shared home and ensure that Tuvalu and other vulnerable nations not only survive, but thrive”.

The Assembly then turned to the organization of the high-level meeting on antimicrobial resistance on 26 September, approving the participation of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society organizations, academic institutions and the private sector as listed in the annex to the draft decision (document A/78/L.97), as amended.

The amendment (document A/78/L.103) was presented by the representative of the United States, who highlighted the central role of NGOs in addressing antimicrobial resistance, including health-care delivery and monitoring.  He expressed regret that some States continue to use the non-objection procedure to block NGOs based on political considerations unrelated to the purpose of the high-level meeting.  The amendment simply supports the restoration of the seven organizations that were removed.

The representative of the Russian Federation said her delegation was compelled to take steps not to allow several NGOs to participate in the Assembly’s work.  “This should not be construed as blocking the useful contribution of these organizations,” she stated, noting that the amendment lists organizations whose activities focus on political narratives rather than the topic at hand.  Their participation raises potential risks to de-politicized discussions, she added.

The amendment was adopted by a recorded vote of 70 in favour to 6 against (Belarus, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, India, Nicaragua, Russian Federation and Syria), with 45 abstentions.  By the text, the Assembly added the following organizations to participate in the high-level meeting:  Center for Global Development; Charitable Organization Charitable Fund “TB Europe Coalition”; Japan Center for International Exchange; Paris Peace Forum; Public Citizen; Results Education; and The Milken Institute.