The profound declaration that “young voices often fill rooms but fall on deaf ears” resounded across the United Nations (UN) General Assembly Hall at the Summit of the Future Action Days. Two of our team members, Brandon Tran (CEO and Co-Founder) and Lauren Thomas (Director of Development) had the remarkable opportunity to hear these words in person at the UN. The idea behind the quote was truly a pervasive theme of the weekend as the UN geared up for the Summit of the Future. Youth stakeholders and experts alike touched on the necessity of incorporating youth voices into political spheres internationally over two full days packed with events, panels, presentations, celebration, and more. 

The necessity and importance of incorporating youth minds in traditionally non-youth spheres is a core principle upon which ChallengeUS was founded. We believe that it is necessary to engage and elevate student voices on critical issues. As Josefa Tauil, a representative of the Secretary General’s Youth Advisory Group, emphasized in her speech during the “Conversation with the Secretary-General” event, Article 1 of the Human Rights Declaration provides evidence for no hesitation on the inclusion of youth in international political spaces. Thus, the youth have a human right to political inclusion, especially in political conversations that impact their future such as climate change. Conversations that include the youth, Tauil noted, are needed to end social isolation and inform the global environment on the essential needs of the present and future.

These core principles on youth incorporation was the basis of numerous roundtable talks throughout the two days that ranged from climate equity to gender equality. During a conversation relating to climate equity, Paulo Bacca, the Deputy Director of Dejusticia, stressed the transformative change youth are capable of bringing about. Bacca has seen this change first-hand when his organization aided Columbian youth in winning their case against the Columbian government for deforestation. A panel on sustainability followed Bacca’s conversation on equity as generational equity and the importance of investing in the world’s children were highlighted.

As many speakers at the Action Days acknowledged, including Bacca and the panel on sustainability, today’s youth will inherit the consequences of current actions and therefore should have their perspectives considered in decision-making. ChallengeUS strongly agrees with this shared belief in the importance of activating and elevating student voices on critical global challenges—climate change, poverty, war, inequality, and so on. UN Secretary-General António Guterres went even further during the Opening Ceremony, advocating not only for youth consultation but also “moments of active intervention from young people.” And these moments of active intervention, the Secretary-General stressed, need to be systemic and genuine, not tokenistic.

Overall, it was clear the thought leaders there felt that for governments to properly address the needs of the people, youth voices must be heard. And not just heard, but listened to and understood. The youth are the future, and as such, must have a seat at the table in conversations relating to the future. Otherwise, intergenerational conversations will not be achieved and solutions to global challenges will lack key insights from the most innovative cohort of the global population.