Mr. Shalala Oliver Sepiso from Zambia and Mr. Robert Glasgow of Peace Child

(Speaking on behalf) Coalition Of Youth Delegates

Declaration To LDC III - Friday 18 May 2001

(Check Against Delivery)

Oliver: Madame Chair, distinguished delegates, NGO representatives, ladies and gentlemen: We the youth participants of this conference are very grateful for this opportunity to voice our opinions on the issues related to LDCs. We would like to remind you that more than sixty percent of the LDC populations are under the age of twenty-five. Taking that into account, we urge you to understand the necessity of youth participation in important gatherings like these.

Robert: Youth have already proven their dedication, responsibility and leadership worldwide in many previous conferences. Youth participants have an obligation to represent the needs and concerns of all the youth. When fifty percent of the world's population is under twenty-five, how can you deny us the means to participate? Youth are not only the leaders of the future, they have the capacity to be leaders of today.

Oliver: To be able to fulfill the aims of capacity-building we must be given the mechanisms to accomplish concrete results. According to us, one of the vital mechanisms is the ability to voice our opinions through a youth forum. This forum should be in the same venue and should be considered of equal importance as the main conference. And it should take place ahead of the Main Conference so that results of the youth deliberations can be included in the conference Outcomes.

Robert: Young people are dynamic peace builders. We choose to ignore borders and instead we choose inclusive co-operation on a global scale. We therefore can help governments overcome grievances and help them move forward on the path to global peace and prosperity. In many bi-communal meetings, children in Cyprus have demonstrated that they were able to draw up an effective peace treaty that their elders have failed to produce in thirty years: in the same way, the youth population in other areas, such as the Great Lakes region, have that same ability to establish a framework for peace.

Oliver: Young people need to be continuously empowered by the prevision of information on the issues of LDCs. It must be presented in a format that we can understand, so that we can plan and undertake strategies that will enable us to contribute more constructively to solutions We have often been used as tools of war ...isn't it time we were used as tools for peace building and development?

The Coalition of Youth Delegates
Including representatives of the following organisations:
· Peace Child International
· International Youth Cooperation
· European Youth Forum
· United Nations Student Association of Japan
· Swedish Students Union
· Youth for Development and Cooperation - Africa Section
· Youth for Development and Cooperation - International Secretariat
· Freres Agriculteurs et Artisans pour le Developpement au Togo

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