UN day five
Wednesday was another early starter. A couple of youth delegates had been rushing around all the previous day trying to arrange a meeting with Kofi Annan and the result was a hope that he might show up at a side event at nine. Unfortunately, this didn't happen and we were in the Vienna Café with little to do and quite disappointed.
However, the Secretary General did give us a very brief photo opportunity a bit later. We assembled in the delegates' lounge a good half hour before he actually showed up and we were standing around for a while after being ‘arranged’ for the photographer. Mr Annan came and went very quickly, but it was all we could really expect since he was apparently scheduled to depart for Switzerland later that day. And there's still hope that we could have a proper meeting when he gets back, although many youth delegates will have since left NYC.
I sat in the Third Committee for about an hour after this, before leaving to make my final preparations for another side event I’d been invited to speak at. Entitled ‘Youth-led Development: Linking the MDGs to the WPAY’, this event was organised by the Global Youth Action Network, Peace Child International and a few other NGOs. My role was to deliver a speech on youth employment and then sit on a panel to answer questions from the floor. This is a tricky job because quick thinking is required in response to people’s points and I haven’t got that much experience of this kind of situation.
It went well, with quite a few people showing up; we were happy because there was another side event taking place at the same time being organised by the Swedish Mission on the subject of its national youth policies. That event also had a special guest: Jan Eliasson, President of the General Assembly – so to be ‘competing’ against this and still have a full room was a good achievement.
Side events ended at 2.45 and next up was the interactive round-table session on ‘Making Commitments Matter’. Everyone was allowed to speak and the meeting was designed to produce recommendations for action and implementation of the WPAY. What I enjoyed most was the fact that NGO representatives had the chance to voice their opinions; a great number were present, all with different ideas and experiences. They’re not allowed to talk in formal meetings so this was a real opportunity.
The three-hour session was split up equally between the three WPAY clusters, with a different chair for each part. Participation was the dominant topic and took up most of the discussion, overlapping into other sections of what was supposed to be a structured discussion. That can be the disadvantage of open sessions: people often stray away from the prescribed subject. Another problem was the tendency of people to speak for longer than the four minutes they were supposed to have.
Keeley and I presented the recommendations from our side event the day before and I was pleased to be able to share those with everybody. The next step is for the three of us to produce a formal outcome document which can hopefully be sent around to all the relevant UN departments.
In the evening there was yet another side event. Two people from MTV came in to talk about and screen a film they’d produced, featuring world poverty expert Dr. Jeffrey Sachs and Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie on the road in Kenya. They travelled around villages, farms and a hospital with no running water where one doctor looked after 300 people every day. I could really feel emotions stirring in the Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium and the show has been very popular on MTV already. Using popular media is a great way to reach young people, raise awareness about global dilemmas and hopefully get them involved in making a difference.
After the film there was a rousing discussion and the producers answered questions from the audience. Following this, a few of the youth delegates went to a bar and discussed the day’s happenings. It was one of the busiest yet for me, but also very productive and enjoyable at the same time.
However, the Secretary General did give us a very brief photo opportunity a bit later. We assembled in the delegates' lounge a good half hour before he actually showed up and we were standing around for a while after being ‘arranged’ for the photographer. Mr Annan came and went very quickly, but it was all we could really expect since he was apparently scheduled to depart for Switzerland later that day. And there's still hope that we could have a proper meeting when he gets back, although many youth delegates will have since left NYC.
I sat in the Third Committee for about an hour after this, before leaving to make my final preparations for another side event I’d been invited to speak at. Entitled ‘Youth-led Development: Linking the MDGs to the WPAY’, this event was organised by the Global Youth Action Network, Peace Child International and a few other NGOs. My role was to deliver a speech on youth employment and then sit on a panel to answer questions from the floor. This is a tricky job because quick thinking is required in response to people’s points and I haven’t got that much experience of this kind of situation.
It went well, with quite a few people showing up; we were happy because there was another side event taking place at the same time being organised by the Swedish Mission on the subject of its national youth policies. That event also had a special guest: Jan Eliasson, President of the General Assembly – so to be ‘competing’ against this and still have a full room was a good achievement.
Side events ended at 2.45 and next up was the interactive round-table session on ‘Making Commitments Matter’. Everyone was allowed to speak and the meeting was designed to produce recommendations for action and implementation of the WPAY. What I enjoyed most was the fact that NGO representatives had the chance to voice their opinions; a great number were present, all with different ideas and experiences. They’re not allowed to talk in formal meetings so this was a real opportunity.
The three-hour session was split up equally between the three WPAY clusters, with a different chair for each part. Participation was the dominant topic and took up most of the discussion, overlapping into other sections of what was supposed to be a structured discussion. That can be the disadvantage of open sessions: people often stray away from the prescribed subject. Another problem was the tendency of people to speak for longer than the four minutes they were supposed to have.
Keeley and I presented the recommendations from our side event the day before and I was pleased to be able to share those with everybody. The next step is for the three of us to produce a formal outcome document which can hopefully be sent around to all the relevant UN departments.
In the evening there was yet another side event. Two people from MTV came in to talk about and screen a film they’d produced, featuring world poverty expert Dr. Jeffrey Sachs and Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie on the road in Kenya. They travelled around villages, farms and a hospital with no running water where one doctor looked after 300 people every day. I could really feel emotions stirring in the Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium and the show has been very popular on MTV already. Using popular media is a great way to reach young people, raise awareness about global dilemmas and hopefully get them involved in making a difference.
After the film there was a rousing discussion and the producers answered questions from the audience. Following this, a few of the youth delegates went to a bar and discussed the day’s happenings. It was one of the busiest yet for me, but also very productive and enjoyable at the same time.
posted by Frederick at 03:00
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