Young people must be included as equal partners in finding solutions and making decisions about the world’s most pressing challenges, speakers told the Economic and Social Council’s annual Youth Forum today, spotlighting how youth around the world are advancing progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and how the United Nations, Member States and other stakeholders should support their greater meaningful participation.
Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the 2023 Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum, held in New York and virtually from 25 to 27 April:
Expressing grave concern over recent shocks that are threatening sustainable development worldwide, the Economic and Social Council concluded its Financing for Development Forum today with the adoption of an outcome document aimed at reforming the international financial architecture in order to adapt to global economic changes and expedite progress towards realizing the Sustainable Development Goals.
Calls for Indigenous Peoples’ full inclusion took centre stage once again as the Permanent Forum today continued its twenty-second session, with speakers underscoring their need to ensure their full participation in realizing the Forum’s six mandated points, including their social and economic development and the preservation of their culture and languages, as well as their environment.
Calling attention to the myriad challenges, violations and injustices faced by their communities, speakers stressed that the rights of Indigenous Peoples cannot be realized without their full, meaningful representation and participation in decision-making processes at all levels affecting their territories, governance and families, as the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues continued its twenty-second session with a day-long discussion on the human rights of Indigenous Peoples.
On the third day of its annual Financing for Development Forum, the Economic and Social Council heard from speakers stressing the need to address structural and financing roadblocks that condemn developing countries to struggle with the multiple crises of climate change, sustainable infrastructure transformation, and international tax cooperation in tackling illicit financial flows.
The Economic and Social Council opened the second day of its annual Financing for Development Forum with a high-level meeting of top global finance officials intent on working collaboratively to help debt-burdened developing countries overcome poverty, climate risks and other challenges to their sustainable development.
The knowledge and insight of Indigenous People must be harnessed to address the global climate crisis, speakers told the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues today, as it opened its twenty-second session amidst observations that such People’s participation must be enhanced, and their rights protected if the international community is to enjoy the benefit of their custodial experience in tackling these existential challenges.
Amid a backdrop of multidimensional crises exacerbating inequalities and pushing the world’s poorest, most vulnerable countries deeper into debt, the Economic and Social Council opened its annual Financing for Development Forum today with speakers debating how to reform the international financial architecture to effectively close the rich-poor gap and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the 2023 Economic and Social Council Forum on Financing for Development Follow-up, in New York today:
