Remarks by H.E. Mr. Abdulla Shahid, President of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly

13 June 2022

Distinguished participants,

Dear students and youth representatives,

Ladies, and Gentlemen,

I thank ADA University for hosting this event and I express my gratitude to the rector of this university, His Excellency, Ambassador Hafiz Pashayev. 

It is my pleasure to be granted this opportunity to talk to students from ADA University and representatives of the Non-Aligned Movement Youth Network. I note that one of the members of my team here today, Mr Rovshan Safarov, is a proud graduate of ADA University. 

My friends, 

One of the most rewarding aspects of my conversations and interactions with youth is your hopefulness. You have not become jaded nor given into the cynicism permeating our world. 

You are hopeful for the future. You believe strongly in the worth of multilateral institutions, and in the worth of the United Nations. 

And you care deeply about the major issues humanity now grapples with: climate change, human rights, economic-development, sustainability, peace and security, to name a few.  

Of course, this is to be expected. The condition of the world that you inherit, depends entirely on how well we deal with these issues. 

Young people know that we have a responsibility to them. And young people also know they need to be prepared to one day shoulder the burdens of global responsibilities themselves. 

It is in fact your optimism, your sense of responsibility that inspires me. That compels me to advocate for and try to instill those values in my peers. 

My friends,   

To be frank, we should be grateful that young people continue to hold steadfast in their optimism, despite challenging global circumstances. 

They are coming of age in a world marked by interconnected crises and uncertainty. 

In recent times, their lives have been upended by a global pandemic that has also dealt severe economic repercussions. Repercussions that will continue to reverberate throughout their working lives.

They are witness to, and sometimes directly touched by, conflicts across the globe; conflicts that have that left a tragic humanitarian toll and devastated entire societies. They have not closed their eyes to what is happening in Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine, and Palestine, among other places. 

Nor can they ignore the condition of our planet. Raging wildfires, drought, floods, soil-erosion, irregular and extreme weather patterns… the list goes on.

With all this ongoing, I find it remarkable and appreciative that young people can hold on to their hope.  

But we cannot take that hope for granted. We owe it to the young people of today, to meet their expectations for change. To understand that they seek a better world, with bolder leadership and a brighter future. 

My friends,

Young people are not content to be passive, or for decisions to be made for them. They want to be involved in contributing to and shaping our world. 

It has always been my firm believe that the desire of young people to get involved should be accommodated. They have a right to have their voices heard and have a say in decisions that affect them. 

Further, I believe that we will benefit by their involvement. By their passion, eagerness, and sincerity. 

We need them now more than ever, not least because we need all hands-on deck. 

The ‘decade of action’ we envisioned has turned into a ‘decade of recovery’ as we deal with the aftermath of a generational pandemic, as conflicts proliferate, and as the climate crisis we long feared has become manifest. 

All of society – including the youth – must be mobilized so that we can correct course and reach a more promising baseline. So that we are once again positioned to meet the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development on schedule, while leaving no one behind. 

Throughout my presidency, promoting youth participation has been at the core of all of my priorities. I have made known my views on the importance of youth-involvement, in my meetings with heads of state and government and with representatives of Member States. 

I make it a point to invite youth to High Level Events in the General Assembly and to always meet with them whenever I am on official travel abroad. 

This is also why I launched a program entitled “Fellowship for HOPE”, which brought to New York a small group of young diplomats and civil servants from underrepresented countries at the UN, particularly from LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS, while also ensuring geographical representation and gender balance. I want to promote youth engagement in multilateralism and support the next generation of diplomats.

By involving young women and men in the work of global multilateralism, I believe we can lay stronger groundwork for an inclusive and sustainable future.

My friends, 

I am eager to hear your views today. My peers and I have spoken at length on our views regarding the state of our world and proposed our solutions. And we will continue to do so. 

But we also have a responsibility to listen. To your concerns and perspectives. To your solutions and proposals. 

In that spirit, I look forward to a very productive and insightful discussion with all of you today.   

 

Thank you