THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

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MESSAGE ON INTERNATIONAL YOUTH DAY

12 August 2010

This year’s commemoration of International Youth Day also marks the launch of the International Year of Youth, under the theme “Dialogue and Mutual Understanding”.

Today’s challenging social and economic environment warrant a special focus on youth. Eighty-seven per cent of people aged 15 to 24 live in developing countries. The global economic crisis has had a disproportionate impact on young people; they have lost jobs, struggled to find even low-wage employment and seen access to education curtailed. As economies slowly begin to stabilize, the needs of young people should be paramount.

This is a moral imperative and a developmental necessity. But it is also an opportunity: the energy of youth can ignite faltering economies

             During the International Year, the United Nations and its youth organization partners will focus on the need to encourage dialogue and understanding across generations, cultures and religions. In a world in which different peoples and traditions are coming into closer, more frequent contact than ever before, it is crucial that young people learn how to listen intently, empathize with others, acknowledge divergent opinions, and be able to resolve conflicts.  Few endeavors are more important than nurturing these skills, and educating young people about human rights, for in them we not only see the next generation of leaders, but also crucial stakeholders of today.  Let us also recognize that older generations themselves stand to learn a great deal from the experiences and examples of young people as they come of age in a world of accelerating interconnectedness.

As we launch this International Year, let us acknowledge and celebrate what youth can do to build a safer, more just world.  Let us strengthen our efforts to include young people in policies, programmes and decision-making processes that benefit their futures and ours.

This year's theme is nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. 

Organizers expect the campaign will help to stimulate interest and mobilize action on these important issues at a moment of both urgency and opportunity, when nuclear disarmament could actually become a possibility. 

Everyone who uses Twitter, Facebook and Myspace is welcome to join in and follow the campaign and to help spread the word as well about these “100 reasons to disarm.” 

Everyone is also encouraged to sign the We Must Disarm Declaration on the UN Foundation web site to show support.

As of Tuesday morning, New York time, over 500 supporters had joined the campaign via Twitter.

Rainn Wilson, actor in the American television comedy The Office who has more than 815,000 followers on Twitter, has also joined the campaign and has been "re-tweeting" the Secretary-General's messages to his followers. Other celebrities will be getting involved in due course. 

The campaign will also draw attention to two existing treaties – the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The Secretary-General is issuing his inaugural message and starting the campaign in June to inspire Member States, UN partners and civil society to start making advance plans for observing the day.

Many of the campaign messages will begin with “WMD-WeMustDisarm...” and go on to list a reason to disarm.

The General Assembly established the International Day of Peace in 1981 as a “day of ceasefire and non-violence” (A/RES/36/67) and (A/RES/55/67).

This year, the day will observed at UNHQ and other duty stations on 18 September since 21 September is an official UN holiday in many parts of the world.