The true spirit of young people

As youth representative of the Netherlands I have had the opportunity to represent Dutch young people at the United Nations. Through writing proposals for UN resolutions, negotiating to get the proposals in the UN Resolutions and through addressing the General Assembly, I hope I did my peers justice. When I was in New York however, most of the topics that were discussed concerned young people in developing countries who make up 80% of the world’s youth. Yet they were hardly represented at the UN.

On the 24th of October I am at the end of my two year term as youth representative. I’ve had an amazing opportunity to do a service for my peers, and I wanted to give something back. Luckily I was invited to the International Youth Forum in Indonesia, to give a speech about the work of Young people at the UN, and to give a workshop to young people from developing countries on how to set up this programme of youth representatives in their own country. Overjoyed that this was an opportunity to give something back, I packed my bags and left for Indonesia. Little did I know that the biggest contribution would not be something I would give, but something that I would receive.

I often use the synonym of a family when I talk about the human race. In a strong and social family everyone is involved and everyone works together. Not to listen to the young people in that family, would weaken the family, or as Kofi Annan would say, would severe its lifeline. Instead, I believe young people from all countries ought to be heard and listened to.

So I talked. I gave the speech and the workshop and worked plenty with young people on how to set up the programme of youth representatives in their own country. And though I know it is a rocky road to New York, in eight new countries young people are now working to set up the programme to make sure that their voices too are being heard at the United Nations.

And I listened. I listened to our sister from Myanmar who was afraid to voice her opinion, and yet spoke out, because more international awareness might improve the situation in her country. I listened to our brother from Indonesia who, after 9-11 was sent away from his au-pair family in the Netherlands on the sheer merit that he was a Muslim, and who now is working in the field of inter religious dialogue to create mutual understanding and decrease prejudice. I listened to our cousin from Sudan, who’s own brother was killed in the violence in his country and who already works with young people in his own country but also was seeking for international help, to improve the situation in his country. And while listening to them and learning from their stories, I felt their agony and their pain, but also their joy and their hope for a better future. Believing that if we work together we really can achieve something.

These are not lessons I can get from books. These are stories of young people, who with their resilience, got up when they were put down, and turned something negative into something positive. They represent the true spirit of young people.

I thought that giving something back by helping young people to set up the programme of youth representatives would be a good way to end my two years as Youth Representative. But I was premature. I learned and felt so much more than I had expected. Now I think the spirit of these young people caught up with me. I still have three more months to go, and since there is always plenty to do, let’s see what more is out there.

Sandra van Beest