Youth, Dialogue and Mutual Understanding debated at UN Headquarters on 25 and 26 July

The United Nations General Assembly will hold a High-Level Meeting on youth at UN Headquarters in New York, on 25 and 26 July 2011, as the highlight of the International Year of Youth. The overarching theme of the Meeting will be “Youth: Dialogue and Mutual Understanding”.

The event will be opened by Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations Secretary-General, Joseph Deiss, President of the General Assembly, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, former President of Brazil, and a youth speaker. The first day will include two consecutive interactive thematic panel discussions, which will be followed, on the 26th of July by two plenary meetings of the General Assembly.

The thematic panel discussions will address key issues affecting youth development:

Panel 1: Strengthening international cooperation regarding youth and enhancing dialogue, mutual understanding and active youth participation as indispensable elements of efforts towards achieving social integration, full employment and the eradication of poverty;
Panel 2: Challenges to youth development and opportunities for poverty eradication, employment and sustainable development.
The High-Level Meeting will also feature numerous side events which will enable youth organisations and partners to inform and exchange on their respective work.

Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General, is invited by the President of the General Assembly and will participate as a speaker in panel discussion 2. She will be accompanied by Pilar Álvarez-Laso, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences.

The results of the High-Level Meeting will be presented and discussed during the 7th UNESCO Youth Forum in October 2011.

The meeting will be webcasted live and there will be live-tweeting from the account @unyouthyear on both the 25 and 26 July, using the hashtag #youth11. The link to the webcast will be shared on Monday morning on the UN Youth Year Facebook and Twitter channels. UNESCO’s Twitter account @unescoNOW will retweet selected posts from the High Level Meeting.

22.07.2011
Source: Social and Human Sciences Sector