THEME
Internal Voices interview with United Nations Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth- Ahmad Alhendawi
Johanna Lillqvist
The United Nations has declared the 12th of August International Youth Day. This year’s theme for the International Youth Day is “Youth Migration- moving development forward”. To mark the day, Internal Voices met up with United Nations Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, Ahmad Alhendawi, to discuss issues related to young people of the world.
The International Youth Day recognizes the young and their imagination, ideas and energies as vital for the continuing development of the societies in which they live in.
Young people today face pressing challenges such as unemployment, marginalization and limited resources. In a changing political, economical and social world, the youth is all too often left to fight for their own rights. The situation of youth worldwide remains precarious. In both developing and developed countries, the needs and aspirations of young people are still largely unmet.
United Nations Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, Ahmad Alhendawi, was appointed as the first ever Youth Envoy in January 2013. His mandate is foremost to bring the voice of the young into the United Nations.
He also works with different UN agencies, governments, civil society, academia and media, empowering and strengthening the position of young people globally inside and outside of the UN. Ahmad Alhendawi is the new face of youth at the UN, himself only 29 years old. Alhendawi has long been a strong youth advocate both in his home country of Jordan and abroad.