ECOSOC Youth Forum 2023

A photo saying ECOSOC Youth Forum 25-27 April 2023 with youth speakers and a plenary space. The logos of the UN, Youth 2030 and ECOSOC are along the bottom.

The Forum, which is the largest and most diverse gathering of youth at the United Nations, attracted over 1,000 in-person youth leaders and activists, 55 Ministers and 80 senior officials of Government, 115 official UN Youth Delegates, 4 Young Parliamentarians, and over 20,000 virtually.

25-27 April 2023, New York City, USA: Young people continue to be underrepresented in decision-making spaces, yet the choices of decision-makers do not represent the realities of the majority of the world’s population. To have a future, young people have no choice but to take on the responsibility of creating a more sustainable world.

In order to combat this disparity, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) hosts an annual Youth Forum. The ECOSOC Youth Forum provides the opportunity for young leaders from around the world to engage with government representatives, youth delegates, policy-makers and other relevant stakeholders in civil society and the private sector to advance the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The priority theme for this Forum’s session was: “Accelerating the recovery from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at levels”.

Young people also represented the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) at the Youth Forum and participated in a variety of aspects. For instance, Ms. Esma Gumberidze, a YouthLED Board member from the GRACE initiative along with Mr. Abba Ali Yarima Mustapha – a UN volunteer from the STRIVE Juvenile Project in Nigeria, made statements during the Youth Forum’s thematic Session on SDG 11. In the session, Mr. Yarima stated, "People make communities, communities make cities. People can never make communities if there’s no peace or social cohesion".

Additionally, Ms. Gumberidze made a statement during the intergenerational dialogue on, “Achieving the SDGs with and for youth” advocating for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in decision-making spaces while acknowledging that corruption exacerbates discrimination against people with disabilities by impeding access to formal spaces and thus increasing gaps and divisions among varied groups of people.

Esma smiling and sitting beside the moderator at the SDG 11 session.

Esma Gumberidze providing an intervention in-person on creating more inclusive cities for persons with disabilities.

Abba speaking virtual at the ECOSOC Youth Forum session on SDG 11.

Abba Ali Yarima Mustapha giving a virtual intervention from Nigeria at the ECOSOC Youth Forum.

Moreover, UNODC’s Mexico Office participated in the ECOSOC digital networking session. During this digital reception, young people had a chance to connect with UNODC personnel to discuss how youth can be positive agents of positive change in their community against corruption and strengthen their knowledge and skills to combat crime and violence.

The goal of the ECOSOC Youth Forum is to not only make statements but to also transform these words into powerful actions. Youth empowerment continues to be a priority for UNODC by ensuring the youth voices are integrated meaningfully throughout our programmatic work. Young people have the energy, creativity as well as vision and drive to take the lead.

For more information on UNODC’s work with and for youth as well as UNODC’s Youth Empowerment Accelerator (YEA!) Framework, please visit the UNODC Youth Website: www.unodc.org/youth.

More Information:

STRIVE Juvenile Initiative: www.unodc.org/strive-juvenile

UNODC GRACE Initiative: https://grace.unodc.org

UNODC Mexico’s Work with and for youth: https://www.unodc.org/documents/youth/UNODC_Mexico_Youth_Actions_v3.pdf