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Namaste! Aloha! |
© Nikola Pucarevic
by Caroline Harmon
Namaste! Aloha! This is how the 600 delegates and 150 support staff greeted each other at the Opening Plenary of the World Youth Congress this summer. The session was punctuated with in-spiring words from young people and leaders from the world of sustainable development as well as members of the Scottish Government.
Nicol Stephen, Deputy First Minister of Scotland began by comparing dele-gates to the G8 leaders who had met in Scotland just weeks before: “Now they are gone and you are here. This is symbolic. In the blink of an eye, these ministers will be gone and you will take their place.”
Eveline Herfkens, the Executive Co-ordinator of the Millennium Development Goals Campaigns, was critical of the lack of progress made at this year’s G8 meetings: “I believe in recycling, but I do not believe in recycling old, undelivered promises.” Coming from Holland, where youth participation has a long history, Eveline knows this ap-proach is the best way forward. “Every human life that is more worth living because of your actions, means your effort is worthwhile.”
A theme running through all the speeches was the crucial role young people play in sustainable development and how short-sighted governments are by not involving young people in their work. Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary General, summed this up when he said: “Young people are the most effective resource we have.”
David Woollcombe of Peace Child International explained: “We need to get youth-led development on to the radar of government and we must draw attention to its value to show that it is critical.” He added that a measure of success would be if the Youth Congress caused one government to realise this and take action. “Young people are a joy to work with; governments are not.”
The session ended with a call from Kumi Naidoo, the Secretary General of Civicus: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, to ‘be outrageous!’ in our actions to make the world a better place. He argued that democracy is in crisis and urged those of us living in so-called democracies to hold our poli-ticians to account, not only at election time, but constantly.
Contact: www.scotland2005.org
Delegates use the Congress media equipment.
Namaste! Aloha! This is how the 600 delegates and 150 support staff greeted each other at the Opening Plenary of the World Youth Congress this summer. The session was punctuated with in-spiring words from young people and leaders from the world of sustainable development as well as members of the Scottish Government.
Nicol Stephen, Deputy First Minister of Scotland began by comparing dele-gates to the G8 leaders who had met in Scotland just weeks before: “Now they are gone and you are here. This is symbolic. In the blink of an eye, these ministers will be gone and you will take their place.”
Eveline Herfkens, the Executive Co-ordinator of the Millennium Development Goals Campaigns, was critical of the lack of progress made at this year’s G8 meetings: “I believe in recycling, but I do not believe in recycling old, undelivered promises.” Coming from Holland, where youth participation has a long history, Eveline knows this ap-proach is the best way forward. “Every human life that is more worth living because of your actions, means your effort is worthwhile.”
A theme running through all the speeches was the crucial role young people play in sustainable development and how short-sighted governments are by not involving young people in their work. Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary General, summed this up when he said: “Young people are the most effective resource we have.”
David Woollcombe of Peace Child International explained: “We need to get youth-led development on to the radar of government and we must draw attention to its value to show that it is critical.” He added that a measure of success would be if the Youth Congress caused one government to realise this and take action. “Young people are a joy to work with; governments are not.”
The session ended with a call from Kumi Naidoo, the Secretary General of Civicus: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, to ‘be outrageous!’ in our actions to make the world a better place. He argued that democracy is in crisis and urged those of us living in so-called democracies to hold our poli-ticians to account, not only at election time, but constantly.
Contact: www.scotland2005.org
Delegates use the Congress media equipment.
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