Our lived realities

We, as young people, do not inhabit a world of abstract theory, but live our complex realities with both common aspirations, and unique situations. We live in a time of profound geopolitical, environmental, and social insecurity. Young people are facing their futures carrying along a heavy burden of insecurity. We have only experienced a fraction of our lives, and are not in the position of knowing whether we can embark on the rest of our life’s journey with the faith that our freedom, our rights, and our well-being will (continue to) be safeguarded. For many of us, whether our freedom and security will be protected is not a given, but an open-ended question.

In spite of the challenges that we encounter daily, we show up. Existing UNESCO youth participation formats are making audible the opinions of a group of people whose voices often remain unheard. As existing youth participation formats, we are committed to contributing to decision-making processes, programmes, and actions in a dedicated manner that reflects our hope for a brighter future. We commit ourselves to laying out the foundations and strengthening the safeguards for ourselves and our successors to be supported as we continue in this movement of youth empowerment and youth engagement.

As our generation and generations to come form the present and the future, we should not only be allowed, but actively encouraged to involve ourselves in the continuous shaping of that world. UNESCO was founded on the belief that the defences of peace must be constructed in the minds of people. We assert that, for peace to be sustainable, these defenses must be constructed now, in the minds of the generation of young people who are and will continue to be responsible for creating and sustaining peace, through active participation rather than passive observation.

Our call for inclusion is not a new request, but a reminder of existing commitments. Under the UNESCO Operational Strategy on Youth (2014-2021), Member States committed to ensuring that youth are addressed as change-makers, knowledge-holders, and equal partners in the design and delivery of policies. Such recognition of, and approach to youth, remains present in UNESCO's current Medium-Term Strategy (2022-2029), and is reflected in the sustained, over 30 years now, recognition of Youth as a Priority Group in UNESCO's work. Furthermore, at the 13th (2023) and 14th UNESCO Youth Forum (2025), mechanisms that ensure meaningful participation within National Commissions for UNESCO were called for and promoted. We are here to provide approaches to bridge the gap between these high-level commitments and the practical reality of our daily collaboration.