Press release: E-book World youth message to the United Nations Secretary-General

Beirut, Lebanon- Dakar, Senegal, August 12, 2011-

The International Year of Youth: Dialogue and Mutual Understanding proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly by its resolution 64/134 adopted on December 18, 2009, gives young people around the world an excellent opportunity to speak out and to take action on issues affecting their lives.

In this context, we launched on February 2011 a project entitled: “World Youth Message to the United Nations Secretary-General”. Its aim is to give youth the opportunity to share their ideas with the UN Secretary-General. The topic was: If you had the opportunity to speak to the United Nations Secretary-General, what would you say?

52 young people from 34 countries answered to this question by sending a message. We edited all the received messages in an e-book entitled: World Youth Message to the United Nations Secretary-General. This 58-page book covers issues related to Millennium Developments Goals –MDGs-; Youth participation; UN’s role; dialogue and mutual understanding, etc.

We hope the ideas developed in this e-book by young people will be taken into account by the United Nations Secretary-General and the other world leaders.
To download the book: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=85JJ6CLG

Leila Arabieh & Amadou Moctar Diallo
Email: youthmessage@yahoo.com

12 August 2010-11 August 2011: The International Year of Youth: Dialogue and Mutual Understanding

Today is the end of the International Year of Youth: Dialogue and Mutual Understanding. This year was a great opportunity to speak out and to take action ! I had the opportunity to attend the World Youth Congress, Istanbul 2010 where we celebrated the openening of the year by organizing a wonderful march in Istanbul well-know square, Taksim !

After going home, I worked with young people to promote the International Year of Youth objectives. It was a magnificient experience ! Young people showed that they are real agents of change. They voice should be taken into consideration by policy makers.

The United Nations High Level Meeting on Youth (July 25-26, 2011) was a wonderful meeting where young people are giving the opportunity to speak out to the world leaders.