Excellencies, dear young people,
I am proud to be here with you today with profound confidence in what young people can achieve.
My message to the young people here today? You are in charge of your future! UNFPA stands with you.
We work hard to ensure that young people have the power and agency to shape their own lives.
In practice, it means, among other things, access to sexual and reproductive health services and protection against gender-based violence, including technology-assisted gender-based violence (TGBV), and harmful practices. It means putting their rights and choices first.
Young people are change makers with the energy and ideas to lead. But in order to shine, young people need opportunity; they need to be included, in all their diversities.
When young people lead on peace, it strengthens societies and reduces the risk of conflict for future generations.
We promote intergenerational collaboration and youth-responsive policies, building on the World Programme of Action for Youth.
As part of the YouthLead Festival, UNFPA spoke with 250 young people in preparation for this Meeting. Their voices are the heart of today’s discussion, so I am honored to share the floor with one of them. Over to you, Hanna.
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Thank you, Diene. Today, I carry with me the hopes and demands of young people, and what they are asking for from this High-Level Meeting.
First: guarantee real participation, not just invitations. That means quotas, dedicated budgets, and safe spaces, with protection for young activists and defenders.
Second: shift the narrative. Build genuine intergenerational partnerships that recognize youth not as problems to solve, but rather as partners in progress.
Third: strengthen youth power through solidarity. Unite voices across borders, movements, and sectors so that when pushback comes, our collective influence and resilience are even stronger.
These are not requests: they are conditions for ensuring youth voices remain central in multilateral decision-making spaces.
Back to you, Diene.
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Thank you, Hanna.
This reminds us that we must back up our words with deeds.
Let us carry the voices of young people with us into our policies and partnerships. Together, we can build a more just and inclusive world for all generations.
We thank you.
