NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 30 – Stefania Bait and Marco Demo, Italy’s Youth Delegates 2021/22, addressed today the 3rd Committee of the General Assembly for the first time since the beginning of their mandate.
“The global pandemic has changed several paradigms. It has highlighted the crucial role of digital skills but also exacerbated the digital divide: while 92% of the world population have access to a mobile broadband network, 54% of the population will need strong reskilling by 2022”, Bait and Demo said in a pre-recorded video statement right after Ambassador Maurizio Massari address to the Committee of the Assembly that specifically deals with human rights.
“This means that, from now on, we need to take in mind two keywords: inclusion and responsibility. We need to work in order to ensure all human rights that exist offline must be protected online”, they said, advocating the need to “reduce the digital divide between countries, between urban and rural areas, between young and older people as well as the gender digital divide”.
Initiatives to engage and include global youth for equal participation should be promoted, empowering young people’s role in the decision-making process, but technology should be used ethically, thinking of ways to train today’s generation to be responsible learners of the digital age.
The other side of the coin, Stefania and Marco said, is that the school system must be adapted to the complexity of the new world: “Educational methods need to take into consideration the challenging and evolving skills needed in our decades”. Besides digital skills, there is a need to focus on other soft skills, such as teamwork activities and peer education, for example, as new ways to train members of a group and increase their expertise so that nobody is left behind.
The United Nations Youth Delegate Program is the main tool through which UN Member States have the opportunity to include young delegates in their respective diplomatic missions, allowing them to represent the interest of young people at conferences and during the UN General Assembly. Affiliated directly with the UN, SIOI promotes the implementation of this program in Italy, an effort which first launched in 2017 in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The program has now reached its fourth year. The Delegates represent the voice of their peers by participating in the most pressing international affairs, contributing to the 76th UN General Assembly, and holding a series of meetings aimed at promoting the program and supporting the role of young people as enactors of change.
(@OnuItalia)
