HUOM!!! Haku vuodelle 2012 on avautunut! Kiinnostaisiko sinua olla Suomen seuraava YK-nuorisodelegaatti? Lue lisää!

Vuoden 2011 nuorisodelegaatti on 21-vuotias, Vaasasta kotoisin oleva ja Helsingissä nykyään asuva Alina Böling. Alina on aikaisemmin toiminut Finlands Svenska Skolungdomsförbund FSS:än puheenjohtajana ja on myös ollut aktiivinen Eurooppanuorissa ja Allianssin KV-toiminnassa.

Delegaattina Alinaa kiinnostaa erityisesti koulutus, ihmisoikeus ja kehityskysymykset. Vapaa ajallaan Alina mielellään matkustelee, lukee ja tapaa kavereitaan.

Alina kirjoittaa BLOGIA koko delegaattikautensa ajan. Seuraa valmistautumista New Yorkiin ja kuulumisia yleiskokouksesta.

Alinaan saat yhteyden sähköpostitse: kv@alli.fi

År 2011 Finländska FN ungdomsdelegat är 21-åriga Alina Böling. Alina är ursprungligen hemma från Vasa men bor nu i Helsingfors. Tidigare har Alina fungerat som ordförande för Finlands Svenska Skolungdomsförbund FSS, hon har också varit aktiv i Europeisk ungdom och Allians internationella verksamhet. Som delegat är Alina speciellt intresserad av frågor som utbildning, mänskliga rättigheter och utvecklingsfrågor. På sin fritid vill Alina gärna resa, läsa och träffa vänner.

Alina BLOGGAR under hela sin delegatperiod. Följ hennes förberedelser inför New York och vad som händer under FN:s generalförsamling.

Vill du ta kontakt med Alina, vänligen skicka e-posten: kv@alli.fi

Alinan puhe:

Mr Chairperson, your excellencies

It is an honour for me to address this committee as a youth delegate from Finland.

The lack of progress in development has a significant impact on youth. With 87 % of the world's youth living in developing countries, youth needs development and development needs youth. According to ILO there is today a risk of almost a billion young people being left out, when trying to enter the labour market in the coming 10 years.

With mass unemployment and marginalization also comes a high risk of polarization and social unrest in our societies - all threatening the right for young people to live in an environment free from violence and xenophobia. As the recent developments around the world show, the question of youth, peace and security are directly linked with the issues concerning the education, employability and social inclusion of the youth. Through tackling issues such as education successfully, we can also avoid having large masses of young people around the globe living without a hope of a brighter future

As hinted before, education is a key factor when it comes to creating social and sustainable development. The current generation of youth is the best-educated so far. Even so, currently 69 million children out of primary age are out of school. 71 million of the world's adolescents are out of school, out of which 54 % are girls. There are 130 million youth in the world who are illiterate. To Finland, equitable education is a core value, and investing in education has in Finland has resulted in one of the world's best literacy rates.

Progress has been made in reaching millenium development goal number 2, securing universal primary education. Progress has however been uneven and there is still a need to create and secure equal access to, as well as quality of, primary education. The economic and financial crisis has impacted the access to education, for example because of public budget cuts. Investing in education and ensuring education for all is today more important than ever.

However, reaching universal primary education is far from enough. To ensure that young people can be autonomous and have a possibility to participation in the global economy as well as in civic life, access to secondary as well as higher education must be secured. In the SG report from 2007 that presented goals and targets for monitoring the progress of youth in the global economy, targets proposed to increase 50 % of the proportion of students completing secondary education and by 2015 ensure that opportunities for technical and vocational education and skills training are available to all youth by 2015. Securing adequate skills for young people is an important component of development and investment in these is an investment in sustainable growth.

For Finland gender equality is a highly important issue, also when it comes to education. According to a recent unicef report, the enrolment in secondary education is 28 % among girls and 53 % among boys. Henceforth, apart from improving overall access to secondary education it is completely necessary to overcome gender disparities in secondary education. Our current and future societies are shaped and created in educational systems and if they are not equal, society will never become equal.

Investing in secondary education contributes to achieving social development and can also contribute to creating gender equality. Secondary education is today a prerequisite for participation in the global economy, and as it socially empowers young people it also gives them access to decent work. Secondary education grants access to participation in other crucial fields of society as it for example creates larger civic engagement.

Eliminating school fees for both primary and secondary education is a way to promote access to education. Eliminating school charges has proved to be an effective strategy for fostering equitable enrolment in primary school. In Finland access to equitable education has been secured by not only granting free education on primary and secondary level but also by granting free university education.

As previously mentioned, our societies are created in our educational systems. That is why important values as human-rights, gender equality and peace should be core values of education in today's world. Racism and xenophobia remains as big problems and should be dealt with in all levels of education.

Apart from granting universal access to formal education systems, non formal education remains as an integral and important part of education especially when it comes to civic engagement of young people. Supporting independent youth-led organizations increases democratization as it enables youth to participate in society. In Finland, a strong young civil society is seen as an important part of preventing marginalization and polarization among youth. Non formal education should therefore also be recognized as an important way of improving social development and the well being of young people today.

Mr chairperson,

Young people have to be made part of the decision making concerning education and educational systems. Supporting student involvement and student organizations is an important component in democratic decision making regarding educational policies.

As half of the world's population are under 30 years of age, granting young people a prospect of having possibilities in their lives, is granting our societies sustainable and peaceful development. Education is a right that our societies can not afford to deny.

Thank you
 

Alla olevat lehdistökuvat ovat vapaasti käytettävissä, kunhan kuvaaja mainitaan (Anna Autio).