UN MGCY April - Opportunities, Engagement Highlights & Updates
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The United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth is the United Nations General Assembly mandated, self organized space for children and young people to contribute to and engage at the United Nations.
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Message from the Secretariat
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Welcome to the UN MGCY's April Newsletter
The Secretariat has been busy progressing and supporting a response to COVID-19 that reflects its global nature and strengthens and celebrate our constituencies dedication and solidarity to solutions. Now more than ever the hard work children and youth all the world over has impact, we are the generation that can and will continue to find solutions and opportunities for the post-COVID world while building the Future We Wany.
Below you will find upcoming engagements & opportunities, engagement highlights from the Group, working group updates as well as a dose of inspiration from featured youth actions and blogs. We welcome any suggestions for improvements or contributions you wish to make. In particular we want to welcome youth actions & blog insights from all around the world. You can send these through to adminteam@unmgcy.org.
-A Message from the UNMGCY
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Upcoming Engagements & Opportunities
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Launch of Youth Action Platform!
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We have built a platform to showcase youth-led actions leading the response to the COVID health and social crisis, in order to give visibility to youth leadership and action. You can see it here:
https://www.unmgcy.org/youth-initiatives. This serves to map youth-led activities and we are sharing it with key INGOs and UN agencies to support the identification of partnerships and support, as well as linking like-minded young people with similar interests.
Thanks to the ones who already submitted - we are working on uploading all submissions and are doing it on a rolling basis.
You can still contribute!!
- If you are involved in any relevant youth-led initiatives, please submit it using the form at this page: https://www.unmgcy.org/youth-action-on-covid-19 (available in English, French, Spanish, and Arabic)
- Share the page on your social media and help us reach more youth and initiatives!
- If you know of any INGO, UN Agencies, governments, looking for grassroots initiatives to support, please share this page with them (https://www.unmgcy.org/youth-initiatives) or send us (covid19@unmgcy.org) their contact details so that we can reach out to them.
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Youth Portal for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration is now online!
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Did you know that 2021-2030 is the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration?
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The UN MGCY through UNEP MGCY and SDG2 working group serves as the space for formal engagement of young people in this crucial restoration process. A new youth portal on the Decade is now online - where you can access capacity building materials, read the
Youth Report on Ecosystems
, and learn about new opportunities.
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SDG 7 Youth Constituency- Call for Regional Focal Points and Thematic Focal Points
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The SDG7 Youth Constituency has been recently formalised and to expand the coordination team, we would like to announce opening a call for Regional Focal Points and Thematic Focal Points.
The application deadline for both is
May 10 2020, 23:59 CET
.
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Open Call for Global Focal Points for the Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD)
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There is an open call for Global Focal Points for the Global Youth Caucus on Desertification and Land.
Deadline: May 26th 2020
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Open Call for Regional Caucus Coordinators- Western Asia, and Europe and North America
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What are Regional Caucuses?
This includes all the member entities in a specific region (Asia Pacific, Western Asia, LatinAmerica and Caribbean, Africa, Western Europe and Others). They promote and coordinate the work on the UN MGCY at the regional level. While, different processes in the UN follow a range of ‘regions’ to coordinate their work, the UN MGCY Regional caucuses are grouped as per the UN regional commission region. These include the following:
- ESCAP- Asia and the Pacific
- ELAC- Latin America and the Caribbean
- ECE- Europe and Other
- ESCWA- Western Asia
- ECA- Africa
What is Regional Caucus Coordination?
This includes all the Regional Focal Points of the respective regions for the different working groups/constituencies/processes , and is responsible for mainstreaming regional perspectives across the work of the UN MGCY.
What is a Regional Caucus Coordinator (RCC)?
The Regional Caucus Coordinator (RCC) is a formal mandated positions in the UN MGCY. The work involves coordinating the respective regional caucus and its relevant activities across the scope of the work of the UN MGCY. This includes but is not limited to the regional High Level Political Forums (HLPF), the ECOSOC Youth Forum, the Inter Agency Network in Youth Development, and other relevant avenues.
Additionally, RCCs occupy a seats on the UN MGCY Coordination Team, which includes all the Global Focal Points, the Secretariat (OPs and Administrator) and the focal points of the Cross Cutting Platforms. The RCCs are also members of the UN IANYD Youth Caucus
How are RCCs Selected / Elected?
The RCCs must be a member of the UN MGCY and are peer-selected from amongst RFPs (non CYI individuals) of the specific caucus. If none of the existing RFPs are interested or eligible for the position then additional applicants through this call will be considered. The previous round of applications are still valid and will be considered.
Deadline: May 17th 2020
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UN 75 Youth Town Hall - May 13th
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Through their Permanent Representatives to the United Nations in New York, the Governments of Qatar and Sweden, in collaboration with the Office of the President of the General Assembly (OPGA), and the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth (OSGEY),
will host a Youth Townhall to collect young people’s input to the Member States Declaration for the United Nations’ 75
th
Anniversary
– which will be adopted on 21 September 2020. The UN Major Group for Children and Youth (MGCY) - in its roles as the General Assembly created, formal, and self-organized mechanism for meaningful youth engagement across numerous processes in the UN - is supporting this effort as part of our broader work towards the UN75.
This initiative is quite important, especially in light of the postponement of both the 2020 Edition of the ECOSOC Youth Forum and the UN75 Youth Plenary - which could not occur as planned between March 31
st
and April 2
nd
– being both affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim is to continue meaningfully engaging young people in the UN’s work in connection to the organisation’s 75
th
Anniversary and the start of the decade of action to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals leaving no one behind.
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The
Youth Townhall
will take place on Wednesday 13 of May at 9am (New York time), and can be accessed via Teams at the following link:
bit.ly/35ChAl6
The
Survey
is already available, and can be accessed at the following link:
bit.ly/UN75YTH
When: Wednesday 13 May 2020 09:00 EST
We hope you can join and look forward to your contributions to the survey. This will complement the work of the UN75 Focus Group on preparing a constituency response to the Elements Paper (
LINK
) to be shared with the co-facilitators of the process and subsequent activities.
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UN 75 People’s Forum for the UN We Need -
May 14th / 15th
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Coordinated by the UN2020 and Together First networks, the UN75 People’s Forum for the UN We Need will bring together civil society and other stakeholders online to adopt a declaration on the occasion of the UN’s 75th anniversary. The declaration will reflect their commitment to the principles expressed in the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and to the objectives set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which draws on several seminal declarations, treaties and programmes of work adopted in previous years.
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Covid-19 is a stark reminder of the need for stronger cooperation across borders, sectors and generations. Ahead of the Forum, stakeholders are engaged in an inclusive process to examine global risks and trends, develop a global plan of action to address them, and promote partnerships for climate action, peace and security, human rights, democracy, sustainable development and disarmament. The unifying theme will be advancing people-centered multilateralism, and the focus will be both on addressing global risks as well as revitalizing the United Nations.
The People’s Declaration and Plan for Global Action is scheduled to be presented online to the President of the 74th UN General Assembly, H.E. Mr Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, on May 14, 2020. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has been invited to provide keynote remarks at the Forum and take questions related to the themes of the Declaration. Your questions for the Secretary-General can be submitted at
un2020.org when you register for the Forum.
When: May 14th and 15th 2020 from 09:00-13:00 EST
If you have any questions please don't hesitate to reach out to
un75admin@unmgcy.org. To get more engaged, sign up for our
UN75 Focus Group - open to everyone - where we will coordinate the youth constituency's advocacy and actions leading up to UN75 in September.
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Keeping the Momentum for Ocean Action Series - Youth Participation and Engagement
Inbox - May 14th
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Engaging young people in the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14, Life
Below Water, is more essential than ever. Join our webinar to mobilize youth
representatives, share information and brainstorm ideas on how to strengthen the
momentum for ocean action among young people during the preparatory process of the
2020 UN Ocean Conference.
This session is one of a four-part series “Keeping the Momentum for Ocean Action” in the lead up to the 2020 Oceans Conference, is a joint effort from the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the Office of the UN Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth, the UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service, the Major Group for Children and Youth and the Sustainable Ocean Alliance.
When: May 14th 2020 09:30-11:00 EDT
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Sustainable Development Goals in the COVID-19 Era: The Role of Science, Technology and Innovation - May 14th / 15th
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Join the Permanent Missions of Israel, Ghana, Mexico, Singapore, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Barbados, Japan, Rwanda and Kenya to the United Nations, as well as the Office of the Special Advisor to the Secretary-General working on Digital Cooperation, and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, for an online conference on Sustainable Development Goals in the COVID-19 Era: The Role of Science, Technology and Innovation.
When: May 14th 2020 from 10:00-13:00 EST and May 15th from 10am-12.15pm EST
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Consultative Webinar - Voices of Youth on the Move from ECOSOC to the HLPF - May 21st
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Are you 31 years old or younger? Are you a young person on the move OR do you work with / OR are you interested in migrants / refugees / or IDPs issues?
Then this opportunity is for you. Be part of this international discussions on:
- Health risk and opportunities for youth on the move
- Leveraging technology, Innovation , and entrepreneurship to support migrants and refugees
- Covid-19 and Youth on the Move: Impact and Response
This consultative process is designed to gather inputs from youth across the globe to be shared in a consolidated and robust proposal on migration to the High Level Political Forum, auspiced by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. This session is coordinated by the UN MGCY, IOM, UNICEF, OSGEY and the UNFPA.
Join a number of dedicated youth leaders, young experts, innovators and changemakers that are working towards a more inclusive and fairer world for refugees, migrants and displaced peoples.
When:
May 21st, 2020 09:00- 11.00 EST
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Reboot the Ocean hackathon
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Earlier this January, UN OICT & UN Global Compact launched the Reboot the Ocean call for hackathon application where the winners of the hackathon will take part in the UN Ocean Conference. Unfortunately, due to COVID19 and the UN Ocean Conference being postponed, this has had to change.
Even though UN OICT & UN Global Compact could not celebrate young innovators in-person, they want to continue to celebrate ideas. Instead they are restructuring our Reboot the Ocean hackathon to be a virtual challenge with a
new deadline of May 20 and we are inviting the winners of this challenge to present at
SAP Purpose Network Live on May 29.
The winners will also receive support from our partners to participate in the upcoming UN Ocean Conference once we have confirmation of the dates.
Find out more and get involved through the
Website and
Trello board here.
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#YouthAgainstCovid19- New episode on Youth, Mental Health and COVID-19
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This week's episode is on Youth, Mental Health and COVID-19, a topic that has been at the forefront of many discussions since the beginning of the pandemic. UNFPA teamed up with OSGEY, MGCY and Warchild for this episode.
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United Nations Launches a Survey for Youth in Latin America and the Caribbean within the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic
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The United Nations Sustainable Group in Latin America and the Caribbean and the members of the LAC Interagency Task Team on Youth are committed to the goals enshrined in the
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
and the
UN Youth Strategy
. Therefore, the respect for all human rights - including economic, social and cultural rights as well as civil and political rights - is fundamental to the success of public health responses and recovery from the pandemic.
In this context, the United Nations is inviting adolescents and youth between the ages of 15 and 29 from the Latin America and the Caribbean to participate in a Survey, whose objective is to learn about how they are experiencing the COVID 19 pandemic, as well as their present and future concerns.
The survey will be open until May 26th 2020.
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Nominate initiatives that tackle chemicals & waste to health of children for a Future Policy Award
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This year, the world renowned
Future Policy Award will celebrate the world’s best laws, policies, and legal frameworks that regulate or ban the use of chemicals that threaten the environment and human health. Each year, the World Future Council, in collaboration with UN agencies, highlights exemplary policies in one field where innovation and action are particularly urgent.
Around 40,000-60,000 chemicals are in use worldwide, some of which cause irreversible harm to humans and the environment; many of these are particularly problematic chemicals that end up in our food chain and the environment. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated the burden of disease from exposure to selected chemicals at 1.6 million lives in 2016, and many more cases of illness. Children are especially vulnerable, and can be affected already before birth with long-lasting effects.
Children in the global South are particularly exposed to dangerous chemicals. But also in Western countries, environmental toxins find their way into the human organism and our environment, where they can cause lasting damage, especially to our youngest.
With the Call for Nominations, we seek comprehensive policies, laws and legal frameworks that protect human health, specifically the health of children, and the environment. We are particularly interested in the regimentation of chemicals in products including plastic, highly toxic pesticides, and lead in paint. We also warmly welcome nominations for the protection of children and youth from dangerous work and exposure to toxic chemicals.
The Future Policy Award will be awarded in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM), the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as well as the German Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU), the German Environment Agency (UBA), the Michael Otto Foundation and the Jua Foundation. The award ceremony will take place during the 5th International Conference on the Management of Chemicals in July 2021 in Bonn.
Deadline: 30 June 2020
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Membership Update January - April 2020
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Between January and April we have received and processed
229 new member entities/organisations in the UN MGCY. They come from all regions of the world; engage at local, national, regional and global levels; and work on a range of issues across the pillars of the UN, including, resilience and humanitarian affairs, peace and security, and sustainable development.
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Announcement of New Teams
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The UN MGCY would like to extend our congratulations to the new teams across the constituency who are beginning their terms for 2020-2022.
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The UN MGCY welcomes the Global Youth Advisory Council of the UN High Commission for Refugees to the coordination team!
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New Global Focal Points:
- Sin Palabras, Marta Verai
- Foundation for Environmental Stewardship, Roxanne Tajbakhsh
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New Global Focal Points:
- Nigeria Youth SDGs Network, Oghenekevwe Christopher
- PUSH Sweden / Arctic Youth Network, Stina Bagge
- Project Survival Pacific, Shivani Karan
- Project Survival Pacific, Neekhil Prasad
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New Global Focal Points:
- Youth Advisory Council (ROTA - Reach Out to Asia), Areen Al-Amayrih
- Youth for Peace International, Erva Nur Cinar
You can sign up to their mailing list and join their work by emailing
hagfp@unmgcy.org
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New Global Focal Points:
- Science Policy Circle, Chiagozie Udeh
- Science Policy Circle, Beniamin Strzelecki
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New Global Focal Points:
- World Associations of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, Ines Maria Goncalves
- YP Foundation, Aditi Mukherjee
- Youth Health Africa, Danai Nyagani
- Youth Health Africa, Farai Mzungu
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Sexual and gender minorities are already experiencing various levels of oppression and discrimination and these are further exacerbated during the CoVid-19 pandemic. This document provides some of the salient points from the dialogue organized by Youth Voices Count (YVC), the United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth, Asian Youth Peace Network (AYPN), and Asia Pacific Regional Civil Society Engagement Mechanism, with the support of speakers from ILGA ASIA, The Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women (ARROW), and ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights last April 24, 2020. As governments continue to take urgent and aggressive actions to curb the spread of the virus and support the immediate needs of communities impacted by the lockdowns, this document also provides key recommendations highlighted during the dialogue.
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On the occasion of the 50th Earth Day, Youth
for
Environmental Governance constituency (UNEP MGCY) organized a virtual Youth Dialogue with UNEP Executive Ms. Inger Andersen on the topic of “Environmental Governance in times of COVID19 and strengthening the role of youth”. The Dialogue saw participation of young people from more than 100 countries, some government ministries and representatives from the UN system. Access the
r
ecording via YOUTUBE
.
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UN Environment Programme- World Environment
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The youth constituency is preparing for the upcoming World Environment Day 2020. UNEP MGCY is working together with the UNEP Communications Division on youth mobilisation for WED through a Youth Task Force comprising youth representatives from different regions. While you will hear more from them soon,
you can read about their work plan and vision here.
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SDG 16 e-Democracy Project
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Challenges and the questions that have arisen from the Covid-19 pandemic. The message of
this project is that in order to have the right answers, first you need to ask the right questions.
E-Democracy will use interactive learning methods so as to maximize the participants’
benefit.
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This project divides the Covid-19 challenges in three sectors: Public Health, Economics and
Politics. Each sector will have its own workshop where the participants will have the chance
to voice their opinions and skepticism about the inadequacies that have emerge due to the
pandemic and discuss the feasible potential solutions and their implications. Each workshop
will have two coordinators to guarantee the quality of the debate.
Another objective of the e-Democracy Project is to fight the spread of misinformation about
the existing crisis. Get Involved believes that to tackle this phenomenon it is essential to get
informed and to enhance your critical thinking. This project offers both. Each participant will
receive a study guide about his or her workshop, which explains the rationale behind the
topics to be debated. The scope of the topics in each study guide is the same. Each study
guide tries to question if the lack of readiness of Governments in tackling crises such as this
of Covid-19 is justified. They also try to highlight the question of whether the pandemic will
result in a new paradigm of the state – private sector relationship. They also emphasize the
importance of transnational cooperation and new technologies in tackling the Covid-19 but
also some potential implications of doing so.
The e-Democracy project public health workshop has introduced by RFP/SDG 16 Nikolaos Moulios with a keynote on health security as human security concept parameter.
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The UN MGCY is part of the secretariat of the 'Compact for Young People in Humanitarian Action' and has been part of the process that developed a guidance document for practitioners in the field
.
The guidance document is structured around the 5 actions of the Compact, together they ensure that COVID-19 preparedness, response plans and actions are youth-inclusive and youth-focused - “with and for young people". It includes key sections on:
1. Services
2. Participation
3. Capacity
4. Resources
5. Data
Keep an eye out for its release.
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Bridging Faith and Worldview through Dialogue
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On 23rd April, 2020 there was a regional project activity initiated by Dialogue Cafe Lahore from Pakistan and Youth Cafe from India. The discussion theme was 'Bridging Faith and Worldview through Dialogue'. They Invited Faisal Ilyas, a member of Asian Youth Peace Network and Executive Director of Peace Hope Pakistan, to be the facilitator and to share some experiences while promoting the Interfaith Dialogues at different stages
At the virtual meeting there were around 30 participants who were listening and asking questions. According to Faisal:
"Such talks promote Humanity through Dialogues towards the positive Diversity of human history all around the world at large"
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Young Pakistani's View of Upgrading their Country
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Newcastle Christian Network UK, YouTube Channel invited four youngsters from Pakistan to share the challenges of youth and the expected role to upgrade the country: Faisal Ilyas, Executive Director Peace Hope Pakistan and Member of Asian Youth Peace Network, Ms Anam Gill Founder Dialogue Cafe Lahore, Mr. Shaloom Naeem Social Activist and Ms Zarish Yaqoob Manager Youth Projects at Caritas Pakistan Lahore. The panel gave their recommendations on the hurdles & challenges of youth in Pakistan as well as endorsed the need of the fare dialogues among interfaith youth in Pakistan.
A learning from the panel was that:
"There are many cases where religion, faith, cast and color based discrimination has been reported even in the colleges and universities. Collectively, we have to educate our young generation that 'Education is not information but formation'. We should promote character building and value enhancing activities in our institutes to avoid discrimination, violent extremism, disrespect and hatred."
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Starting to engage in the UNMGCY is very simple!
As many of you would know that one of the changes with the new structure includes having a more comprehensive membership database, that makes coordination faster and better serves the needs of the members of the constituency. Keeping this in mind, we have developed a new form. Please fill it in if you have not already.
As a member you can embark on a journey of impact where the priorities of young people become part of youth led advocacy and proceedings at the UN.
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