[Article published in the Outreach newsletter of CSD, Thursday May 13.]
Overcoming Obstacles: Feet First
“You take your foot, and you put it in the shoe.” This was one twelve-year-old’s response when asked how government delegates could better understand what it’s like to be poor. The interview took place here at the UN CSD-18 on Monday May 10th, when a group of youth caucus members decided to engage with twelve-year olds from an inner-city neighbourhood in Toronto, using Skype (a program for video-calling and chat).
One youth caucus member reflected, “It was exciting and inspiring to have a conversation with kids that were hundreds of miles away, who were deeply concerned about these issues.”
Kids such as those on the Skype call, are so often excluded from international forums. This is an obstacle the Youth Caucus faces - how can we include everyone, especially those who are consistently excluded in society today? And, how can we, a small group, represent so many diverse young people? Underprivileged youth are amongst those who will be most affected by the issues; and more importantly, they are the agents of change who can translate policies into action. Because they are key protoganists in implementation, the Youth Caucus feels they have the right to be part of policy development.
As representatives of both youth and children, many at the CSD felt strongly about the need to gather inputs from younger peers.Three calls have taken place thus far, putting 7 youth in direct contact with around 15 young, intelligent teens. Two more calls are scheduled for later this week, which are estimated to connect the Youth Caucus with a total of 25 young people. Another possibility is skyping with an entire classroom of kids at Orcas Island Middle School.
Another challenge has been the lack of regional diversity within the Youth Caucus itself. "We've been working hard to address the serious issue of under-representation from Latin American and African countries. Their valuable experiences and perspectives on the thematic clusters need to be brought to the table."
The Youth Caucus has recognized that youth participation from these regions is critical, and so it has been their priority to actively engage delegates from these regions to include youth in their official delegations.
"We've been lobbying for more youth representation from the South for a long time. And while we're met with positive reactions, we still have a long way to go."
Other ways that children and youth can participate include ning, skype, e-mail, facebook and meetings in our communities prior to the CSD itself. These media outlets help us bring people together from around the world, to take part in this dynamic dialogue.
"Teleconferencing keeps coming up as a great way to reduce air travel and carbon emissions. So we're trying to put this into action, get more children involved and have fair regional representation---And we're asking delegates to do the same. Who's with us?"
Connect with the youth caucus on Ning: https://csdyouthcaucus.ning.com/
Authors: Mikala Forster, Emilie Gincig, Alicia Cundall, Natalie Lum-Tai, Krissy Moore, Serena Sanders
Thanks to: Sana Zareey as well as the young people and their families in Toronto for making this possible.
Saturday 26 June 2010
Friday 14 May 2010
CSD: Day 8
Crazy day – first, since I took the Youth Caucus’ meeting’s minutes yesterday morning, this morning I have to chair. We only have about 40 minutes to get through a half page of agenda points, so I can’t leave too much room for questions and discussions. Fortunately, everyone by now is so tired that that is not a problem. We breeze through most of the agenda points and end with a presentation by Felix Dodds of the Stakeholder Forum, on the major Rio+20 conference that will take place in 2012. He’s a great presenter who energizes the room, not only for Rio+20 but for the rest of this day as well.
This is an exciting day, because it’s the opening of the High Level Segment: from today on, everything moves into flux as ministers and other big shots arrive to finalize the conference. That is not to say that these people are particularly knowledgeable: since they have such broad portfolios, it’s more a matter of them being brief by staff who have followed CSD in detail, and then giving the official rubber stamp to decisions. This goes with the necessary decorum: in the morning there is a 3-hour plenary meeting at the General Assembly hall in the main building, which most of us can only attend from the 4th-floor balcony. I come in with high expectations, but they have to be rapidly adjusted to the realities of the UN: almost all of the speeches given by the invited ‘eminent speakers’ are excruciatingly boring. My notebook, which I had eagerly taken out, stays empty.
The latter half of the day is devoted to the topic of which I lead the Youth Caucus working group: Mining. This ‘interactive ministerial roundtable’ turns out to be basically the same as previous sessions: a long list of 3-5 minute pre-written statements by governments. A lot of these simply reiterate things that we all knew before coming to CSD: “mining can be a driving force of the economy, but also can have negative impacts, which we must seek to manage and reduce” etc. etc. At the end of the session, the Major Groups are allowed to speak and I take the floor to deliver our statement. It’s primarily about child labor, and ends by directly asking countries what steps they will take to eradicate child labor in mining by 2015. Apart from the Belgian government, we are the only ones to mention child labor – disgraceful. Hopefully our statement will contribute to the topic’s inclusion in policy. The positive feedback I informally receive on our statement gives me some hope.
We close the day by going with a group of 12 to the Apollo Theater’s Amateur Night, in Harlem. After this extremely busy day, it’s great to spend the evening shouting and clapping at the contestants, as well as doing a little dancing. All this energy that gets bottled up during the day needs a way out – I wonder what Friday night will look like… two more days!
- Bastiaan Bouwman
This is an exciting day, because it’s the opening of the High Level Segment: from today on, everything moves into flux as ministers and other big shots arrive to finalize the conference. That is not to say that these people are particularly knowledgeable: since they have such broad portfolios, it’s more a matter of them being brief by staff who have followed CSD in detail, and then giving the official rubber stamp to decisions. This goes with the necessary decorum: in the morning there is a 3-hour plenary meeting at the General Assembly hall in the main building, which most of us can only attend from the 4th-floor balcony. I come in with high expectations, but they have to be rapidly adjusted to the realities of the UN: almost all of the speeches given by the invited ‘eminent speakers’ are excruciatingly boring. My notebook, which I had eagerly taken out, stays empty.
The latter half of the day is devoted to the topic of which I lead the Youth Caucus working group: Mining. This ‘interactive ministerial roundtable’ turns out to be basically the same as previous sessions: a long list of 3-5 minute pre-written statements by governments. A lot of these simply reiterate things that we all knew before coming to CSD: “mining can be a driving force of the economy, but also can have negative impacts, which we must seek to manage and reduce” etc. etc. At the end of the session, the Major Groups are allowed to speak and I take the floor to deliver our statement. It’s primarily about child labor, and ends by directly asking countries what steps they will take to eradicate child labor in mining by 2015. Apart from the Belgian government, we are the only ones to mention child labor – disgraceful. Hopefully our statement will contribute to the topic’s inclusion in policy. The positive feedback I informally receive on our statement gives me some hope.
We close the day by going with a group of 12 to the Apollo Theater’s Amateur Night, in Harlem. After this extremely busy day, it’s great to spend the evening shouting and clapping at the contestants, as well as doing a little dancing. All this energy that gets bottled up during the day needs a way out – I wonder what Friday night will look like… two more days!
- Bastiaan Bouwman
Friday 7 May 2010
CSD: Introductions
Hello everyone. Like every year, TYN sends a delegation to CSD. Here is a brief introduction to the members of the delegation:
Hi everybody, as a local of NYC I like my nice walks to the UN and around the world's greatest city. In the fall I'll be attending Duke Graduate School studying International Affairs. I hope to have a productive UNCSD
Natalie Lum-Tai
Bastiaan Bouwman
Hi, my name is Bastiaan Bouwman, from Amsterdam. Having worked with TYN for three years now, on topics like the MDG's, corporate social responsibility and international NGO politics, it's great to bring that experience to a real UN conference. I hope to learn a lot from attending CSD and coordinating the delegation, as well as contributing substantially to the process and content of the conference. It's a big responsibility, sothere's an intense two weeks coming up but I'm looking forward!
Matthew Gullo
Hi everybody, as a local of NYC I like my nice walks to the UN and around the world's greatest city. In the fall I'll be attending Duke Graduate School studying International Affairs. I hope to have a productive UNCSD
Sven Herreman
My name is Sven Herreman, from Brussels, Belgium. I have been participating in TYN for one and a half years, with this being my third international UN conference (COP 15, and UNCSocD), as well as participating in 2 TYA’s and being Deputy-President for the 2010 Summer Symposium. I hope to learn more about the functioning of the Youth in the UN, as well as networking.
Tara Yip-Bannicq
Hi, my name is Tara Yip-Bannicq and I'm half French/half Chinese. I'm one of those 'third culture people' who doesn't really know where they're from. I finished my MSc in International Political Economy at the London School of Economics last year and have been working in the disaster relief sector since then for the JUMP! Foundation, a youth empowerment organisation. This is my first TYN delegation and I like bagels.
Natalie Lum-Tai
Natalie Lum-Tai hails from Mississauga, Ontario but is currently living the life of a true Montréalaise while pursuing a Joint Honours in Political Science and History at McGill University. She has a passion for youth engagement and is a strong advocate of children having a role in all matters that affect them, as proscribed by the UNCRC. This is her first time working with TYN and she is excited to see what contribution they can make at CSD-18, especially in the final review year before the implementation of the 10-year SCP framework.
Angie Lai
My name is Angie Lai and I'm from Hong Kong, China, and in recent years I living in different countries trying out all the opportunities. I joined TYA the first time in July 2008 as the chair of the Human Rights and Youth committee, and since then I have been actively participating in the network. I’m really happy to participate in UNCSD-18. My interests are transport and the 10-year framework on SCP, and I’m hoping to learn the most out of this conference.
CSD: Day 4
As usual, the day started with joining the never-ending long queue outside UNHQ, but despite the security check fuzz and the called-off meeting with the Chinese delegates, everything went fine and well. Today was a really busy day all filled with meetings with country delegates and UN officials, as well as people from major groups, and I am actually very pleased to see the enthusiasm from young people trying hard to lobby for changes - they sacrificed lunch time and the opportunity to explore NYC to help create a better world, what passion!!!
The first meeting was with Ms. Federica Pietracci, the Sustainable Development Officer Division for Sustainable Development Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Ms. Pietracci has been working with the UNCSD Youth Caucus for a few years already, and is really in a position trying to understand youths' participation in the UN issues. She told us a lot about how the UN and youths are connected, as well as a few country delegates to lobby to.
Mr. Rasio Ridho Sani, Assistant Deputy Minster for Management of Hazardous Substances and Hazardous Waste in Indonesia, was the second person we had a meeting with today. He and his colleague were both very friendly to us and spent almost two hours trying to help us understand the Sustainable Development situation in Indonesia and provided answers to our other questions. Mr. Sani claimed that it's not because Indonesia does not want to engage youth in the UN issues, however, issues such as waste management and mining are too complicated to be understood by youth and children, and that they also experience shortage of financial aid in promoting these aforementioned issues. Although the promotion in Sustainable Development is being hampered by various reasons, the Indonesian government is constantly working their way on providing youth and children a better place to live in.
After the formal meeting, Mr. Sani and his colleague also spent time in just chatting with us on different topics, for example, what our dreams and ambitions are.
It's a pity that I couldn't finish the entire meeting with the Indonesian delegation as the TYN delegation had earlier on arranged a meeting with Mr. Jan-Gustav Strandenaes - Senior Consultant of the United Nations, at 15:00 in the Austria Café. Mr. Strandenaes is very approachable and interactive, he did not only answer our questions and provided us insights on the topic on Sustainable Development, he also suggested a few professionals for us to contact for lobbying, and even more, he was interested in being one of the guest speakers for the 2010 TYN Summer Symposium J Before Mr. Strandenaes left, he reminded us, as youth, should never give up and be optimistic about the future; when we look back later, we'll see there is indeed a change.
I was actually very happy to see how these adults and professionals in the top of the hierarchy value youths' ideas and participation in important decision-making process, although sometimes we may sound too ideal and unrealistic and perhaps stupid to them?!
After the long and tiring working day, I just sat in the side-event in Mining and Indigenous People, which I found it very interesting and had learnt a lot from the Human Rights Lawyer.
UNCSD has been beyond fun and inspiring so far, however, there's a concern as to whether we will actually have time to see the exciting city or not, if me and Natalie could hunt down to Times Square for shopping, and if Vicnan could ever have a chance to visit the Statue of Liberty after three times of participating at CSD.
And finally, the long-awaited delegation pizza dinner took place in Central Park, and very unluckily, Matt had to rush to work and couldn't join us; and we, the girls of this delegation, are still very curious in understanding some of the secret words used within the group. I propose a motion to explain these 'jargons' to us!!
This is not the end. I can't end this blog by not mentioning the fact that I actually met the Secretary General of the UN today after printing off some copies in the main building. It was short, but it made my day.
Angie Lai
Thursday 6 May 2010
CSD: Day 3
It’s Wednesday, the third day of the CSD, and it feels like it should be at least Friday. Perhaps this is because the Youth Caucus really started last Sunday with the all-day Youth Blast orientation and policy drafting session. The atmosphere at the CSD seems to have lulled a bit although it is still as busy as ever with delegates rushing about from meeting to meeting to side event to meeting in the North Lawn Building of the UN.
This is my first TYN/CSD experience yet it feels like I’ve been doing this for much longer than a mere four days. So far, as a Youth Caucus we have divided ourselves into regions (North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe). There are three of us in the Latin America and Caribbean group, tasked to create and implement a strategy to lobby the Latin American and Caribbean delegates on the policies of the Youth Caucus on Mining, Sustainable Consumption and Production, and Transport. I find it rather ironic, and somewhat cumbersome that the Youth Caucus does not have any actual Latin American or Caribbean youth in attendance at CSD-18, which also a point we are actively trying to change; thus our little Latin American and Caribbean youth group consists of myself (hailing from France and China, among other places), Sven from Belguim (also a TYN-er), and Melody from Canada with Persian roots. No matter though, we plough ahead with our mission to speak to the delegates. So far, between yesterday and today, we have successfully managed to speak to some of the delegates from Belize, Guatemala, and Brazil.
Apart from being dispersed into regions within the Youth Caucus, we have each elected to focus on one (or more) of the thematic topics of this year’s CSD. My theme of choice is transport. Yesterday was the first half of the Thematic Discussion on Transport in which I ended up delivering the statement on behalf of the Youth and Children Major Group to the Commission, which was quite exciting. The Transport Working Group of the Youth Caucus worked on etherpad.com (a wonderful little piece of innovative collaborative technology) during the actual discussion to tailor a statement that reflected the various points brought up by the panelists and delegates up until the very moment of our turn to address the Commission. We thought that by doing this, our statement would be a take-off from the general country statements where country representatives speak about what their governments have already done to create or support sustainable transport systems in their respective countries.
We highlighted issues related to how transportation systems need to reflect the needs of peri-urban (slum dwelling) populations (since only rural and urban populations have been mentioned before). We emphasized the need for a change of not only culture and behavior through which we as individuals have to lead by example. One of the more dramatic and poignant points we made was to call on the delegates of the CSD to offset the carbon emitted by their travel to this very conference. In other words, we called them (and ourselves) to task to lead by example. I even asked the delegates to raise their hands if they had travelled to the conference by plane, just to engage them a bit. We finished the statement by stressing the need for the involvement of the people and communities affected by transportation systems and policies to be involved in the planning of said systems.
All in all, my experience at the CSD has been exciting so far, and I look forward to what the next days will bring.
- Tara Yip-Bannicq
This is my first TYN/CSD experience yet it feels like I’ve been doing this for much longer than a mere four days. So far, as a Youth Caucus we have divided ourselves into regions (North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe). There are three of us in the Latin America and Caribbean group, tasked to create and implement a strategy to lobby the Latin American and Caribbean delegates on the policies of the Youth Caucus on Mining, Sustainable Consumption and Production, and Transport. I find it rather ironic, and somewhat cumbersome that the Youth Caucus does not have any actual Latin American or Caribbean youth in attendance at CSD-18, which also a point we are actively trying to change; thus our little Latin American and Caribbean youth group consists of myself (hailing from France and China, among other places), Sven from Belguim (also a TYN-er), and Melody from Canada with Persian roots. No matter though, we plough ahead with our mission to speak to the delegates. So far, between yesterday and today, we have successfully managed to speak to some of the delegates from Belize, Guatemala, and Brazil.
Apart from being dispersed into regions within the Youth Caucus, we have each elected to focus on one (or more) of the thematic topics of this year’s CSD. My theme of choice is transport. Yesterday was the first half of the Thematic Discussion on Transport in which I ended up delivering the statement on behalf of the Youth and Children Major Group to the Commission, which was quite exciting. The Transport Working Group of the Youth Caucus worked on etherpad.com (a wonderful little piece of innovative collaborative technology) during the actual discussion to tailor a statement that reflected the various points brought up by the panelists and delegates up until the very moment of our turn to address the Commission. We thought that by doing this, our statement would be a take-off from the general country statements where country representatives speak about what their governments have already done to create or support sustainable transport systems in their respective countries.
We highlighted issues related to how transportation systems need to reflect the needs of peri-urban (slum dwelling) populations (since only rural and urban populations have been mentioned before). We emphasized the need for a change of not only culture and behavior through which we as individuals have to lead by example. One of the more dramatic and poignant points we made was to call on the delegates of the CSD to offset the carbon emitted by their travel to this very conference. In other words, we called them (and ourselves) to task to lead by example. I even asked the delegates to raise their hands if they had travelled to the conference by plane, just to engage them a bit. We finished the statement by stressing the need for the involvement of the people and communities affected by transportation systems and policies to be involved in the planning of said systems.
All in all, my experience at the CSD has been exciting so far, and I look forward to what the next days will bring.
- Tara Yip-Bannicq
Wednesday 5 May 2010
CSD: Day 2
It’s only the second day at CSD-18 and I’m already feeling the impact of a twelve-hour work day—two caramel macchiatos too many, chocolate (more caffeine), lunch in the Delegate’s Dining Hall (if I’m lucky), and not much else. While at times I feel my lack of sleep catching up to me, the buzz in the North Lawn Building is still audible and my excitement about the potential impact this review year could have on the creation of policy at CSD-19 makes me forget quite how early I woke up this morning.
With a proper pass in hand, I was extremely excited to get back into a plenary session, especially since yesterday’s opening session was a mixed bag of substantial vs. empty statements. Furthermore, in helping to prepare the official statement for the Cross-Regional Perspectives plenary, I was passionate about what we had created, and was there to root on our Youth Caucus representative. After this session, I felt as though I had a much better understanding of how the UN as a body functions, including procedures, etiquette and purpose. I was inspired that most countries found this plenary important enough to attend. Moreover, they truly bought into the idea that they were present to participate in knowledge-transfer, to celebrate successes while identifying gaps, inequalities and areas that need attention. I was particularly impressed that countries did not point fingers and get side-tracked by blaming each other for failing to meet commitments. Instead, delegates spoke about their experiences and led by example. Brazil’s work in Mozambique and Ghana was particularly impressive, where they have collaborated to find solutions to problems of food security, lack of medications, and HIV/AIDS.
What surprised me the most about today was the interest of both American representatives, from the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of International and Tribal Affairs, in Canada’s reconciliation with its Aboriginal population. Their interest for the social well being of this vulnerable group as well as protecting the partnership between indigenous peoples and the Crown, was echoed by many others at the Side Event hosted by the Canadian Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, thus showing the strong link between sustainable development and cross-cutting social issues such as poverty eradication, gender equality and education.
While today was a great learning experience, I was disappointed to learn that one of our members had been positively received by the Women’s Major Group and asked to help draft a statement, and then disempowered by a single woman, who did not believe that youth could be a voice for women as well. Nevertheless I would encourage the youth caucus members to continue to connect with other Major Groups, because we are not “just” youth; we are women, NGOs, indigenous people, workers. Some of us are even members of the scientific & technological community, business & industry, farmers, and have worked closely with local authorities. Furthermore, let us be embracing of other Major Groups who wish to collaborate with us, because our position is strengthened when united—and everyone’s been young once, right?
Today I also realized how valuable informal settings, such as Side Events and Learning Centres, could be for introducing a youth perspective on SD issues, especially through Q & A sessions. What’s more, all of these informal spaces give us opportunities to meet other delegates, whether they are presenters or participants. Although my fingers are still crossed that the need for secondary badges will be eliminated, as I meet more interesting individuals in corridors and café lines, I’m becoming slightly less hung up on those talk-of-the-town passes.
- Natalie Lum-Tai
With a proper pass in hand, I was extremely excited to get back into a plenary session, especially since yesterday’s opening session was a mixed bag of substantial vs. empty statements. Furthermore, in helping to prepare the official statement for the Cross-Regional Perspectives plenary, I was passionate about what we had created, and was there to root on our Youth Caucus representative. After this session, I felt as though I had a much better understanding of how the UN as a body functions, including procedures, etiquette and purpose. I was inspired that most countries found this plenary important enough to attend. Moreover, they truly bought into the idea that they were present to participate in knowledge-transfer, to celebrate successes while identifying gaps, inequalities and areas that need attention. I was particularly impressed that countries did not point fingers and get side-tracked by blaming each other for failing to meet commitments. Instead, delegates spoke about their experiences and led by example. Brazil’s work in Mozambique and Ghana was particularly impressive, where they have collaborated to find solutions to problems of food security, lack of medications, and HIV/AIDS.
What surprised me the most about today was the interest of both American representatives, from the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of International and Tribal Affairs, in Canada’s reconciliation with its Aboriginal population. Their interest for the social well being of this vulnerable group as well as protecting the partnership between indigenous peoples and the Crown, was echoed by many others at the Side Event hosted by the Canadian Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, thus showing the strong link between sustainable development and cross-cutting social issues such as poverty eradication, gender equality and education.
While today was a great learning experience, I was disappointed to learn that one of our members had been positively received by the Women’s Major Group and asked to help draft a statement, and then disempowered by a single woman, who did not believe that youth could be a voice for women as well. Nevertheless I would encourage the youth caucus members to continue to connect with other Major Groups, because we are not “just” youth; we are women, NGOs, indigenous people, workers. Some of us are even members of the scientific & technological community, business & industry, farmers, and have worked closely with local authorities. Furthermore, let us be embracing of other Major Groups who wish to collaborate with us, because our position is strengthened when united—and everyone’s been young once, right?
Today I also realized how valuable informal settings, such as Side Events and Learning Centres, could be for introducing a youth perspective on SD issues, especially through Q & A sessions. What’s more, all of these informal spaces give us opportunities to meet other delegates, whether they are presenters or participants. Although my fingers are still crossed that the need for secondary badges will be eliminated, as I meet more interesting individuals in corridors and café lines, I’m becoming slightly less hung up on those talk-of-the-town passes.
- Natalie Lum-Tai
Tuesday 4 May 2010
CSD: Day 1
It’s kind of like being an animal in a zoo – there’s a hundred people walking past you, some stopping to take a look. Some just glare and move on, others stop to take pictures. A nice lady with a badge leads the group ahead into the corridor on the right, into the UN secretariat to continue their guided tour. We stay right where we are: in line. There’s a good amount of people in line, and we all have the same destination: the photo desk where our picture will be taken to print our UN Grounds Pass. We had hoped that 8:45 in the morning would still allow us to check in pretty quickly, but after a hopeful start we ended up quagmired. The first plenary session of the Commission opens while I sit down and politely smile as the guard focuses the camera.
Once we make it through check-in though, things start picking up quickly. We head down to the temporary North Lawn Building where the conference takes place, and already some of us are given precious ‘secondary badges’ that allow us access into the plenary meetings. I muster all of my early morning attention to listen to the opening statements and take notes – these statements generally contain only the vaguest of claims and proposals, not to mention they are also distributed in hard copy. However, as you get into the flow of the meeting and compare the content of statements, it is interesting to note the differences in angle. For example, the G77 and China clearly emphasize the need for developing countries to maintain their growth, and the responsibility that already developed countries have to aid them through development assistance and debt relief. The EU and US, on the other hand, emphasize equal global collaboration and solutions through scientific development and good governance, among others. We’ll see if such differences lead to the same outcome as in Copenhagen… my hope is still that CSD will turn out to be less politicized and more open to sharing of knowledge and good practices to the benefit of all.
As the day progresses, it becomes clear that we, as youth, really can have an influence here. Already some of us have spoken to government delegates, and have been met with favorable reactions. The United States in particular advocates strongly for major group participation, including youth. And in several large-scale meetings, the floor is given to youth delegates who make statements. These are off-the-cuff, but they are clearly received positively. And there is no apparent lack of space for youth to be heard: in the corridors, delegates are easily approachable (especially in the cafeteria), and in the meetings there is no lack of speaking time to be given to youth. However, this of course is a mixed blessing: it means that the member states themselves are so far being relatively passive, or keeping their cards close to their chest. On the other hand, this is to be expected on a first day. Now, during the coming days, it’s our job to make sure the discussion quickly integrates youth concerns. By putting in good work this week, we can nudge the debate in the right direction. With the great people we have on our delegation, I have high hopes!
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