VOICE OF THE YOUTH

The first-ever Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Global Children and Youth Action Summit, to be held in the Caribbean, is being touted as a landmark opportunity for young people to be heard.

During the launch of the summit at the United Nations House in Marine Gardens, Christ Church on Monday, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Gaston Browne, whose island will host the May 24-26 event, said it was a momentous occasion for the region’s youth.

Giving remarks virtually, he said the summit was more than a conference. He described it as “a pivotal gathering that places the voices of our youth and children at the forefront of our discussions and actions. It is a beacon of hope, a platform for collaboration and a testament to the power of our young people to effect real change”.

Browne said he expected strong and active engagement, innovative ideas and bold initiatives from the region’s young leaders.

“We recognise the significance of this gathering and the responsibility that comes with it. We are committed to providing a supportive environment where every voice is heard, every idea is valued and every action is celebrated,” he said.

UNICEF representative for the Eastern Caribbean Pieter Bult said his team was looking forward to “breaking new ground” at this summit as it will be “the first of its kind, a landmark opportunity to bring young people together from across the three SIDS regions to unify their voice, allowing it to resonate on a global platform and hearing that voice and acting on what we hear has become critical to the future of our children and young people, a future which many feel is increasingly precarious”.

Pointing out some of the key problems SIDS face, Bult said it was encouraging to see young people stepping up to the plate and contributing to improving their societies.

“SIDS tend to have narrow resource bases and economies that are not sufficiently diversified with a significantly lower capacity to absorb economic and environmental shocks. They are often ridden with debt, and 40 per cent of them are now facing unsustainable debt levels. On top of that, SIDS are highly vulnerable to climate change and its impacts – from instantly catastrophic natural disasters to the slow-creeping devastation that emerges from the loss of habitat, increasing heat and rainfall and rising sea levels.

“[But] our children and young people are not losing hope, far from it. They are thinking and organising, becoming increasingly powerful change agents shaping a brighter and more equitable and prosperous future small islands. This (the summit) is a rallying cry of optimism, of hope and determination. It recognises the vital role that children and young people play in responding to the threats and dangers and in building resilience of their families, their communities and their nations,” said Bult.

The Caribbean Development Bank’s Social Sector Division Chief Dr Martin Baptiste said the summit was a crucial space for young minds to converge and share solutions and commitments for a course of action.

He stressed that the prosperity and resilience of a country depended heavily on whether children and the youth were given a seat at the decision-making table and seen as valuable development partners.

Executive director of the Ashley Lashley Foundation, Ashley Lashley said the summit “holds a profound significance not only for me as a young person from a small island developing state, but other countless youth from across SIDS and around the globe who share our dreams, our aspirations and our unwavering commitment to positive transformation”.

(SZB)