What we are announcing today – an Agenda for global action for the next 15 years – is a charter for people and planet in the twenty-first century. Children and young women and men are critical agents of change and will find in the new Goals a platform to channel their infinite capacities for activism into the creation of a better world*.
*(Paragraph 51 of A/RES/70/1. “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development” https://undocs.org/es/A/RES/70/1)
Today there are around 1.2 billion young people between the ages of 15 and 24 in the world, representing approximately 16% of the world population. Young people are not only rights holders, but also strategic actors in sustainable development and agents of change in their communities and at the global level.
The active engagement of youth in sustainable development efforts is central to achieving inclusive and fair societies, as well as to averting the worst threats and challenges to sustainable development, such as the impacts of climate change, unemployment, poverty, migration and forced displacement and conflicts.
In the coming years, the quality of education, access to decent work , persistent gender inequality and the climate and environmental crises, will have a profound impact on the lives of millions of young people. In this context, young people demand and exercise a leading role in shaping their own futures and in decision-making processes that affect present and future generations.
Their knowledge, proposals and capacity for mobilization, when articulated through institutional spaces for intergenerational dialogue and structured participation, are key to advancing the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and its transformative vision of a world free of poverty, with inclusive social, economic and technological development in harmony with nature, where no one is left behind
In Latin America and the Caribbean, the youth population is close to 160 million and in many countries their proportion will continue to increase significantly in the coming decades. However, young people face profound structural gaps that limit the exercise of their rights and shape their educational, labour and autonomy trajectories. Inequalities persist in access to quality education, in the development of relevant skills for productive insertion, and in opportunities for decent employment. Overcoming these gaps requires strengthening education and skills-for-work systems, promoting lifelong learning, and articulating policies that enable young people to fully develop their capacities in contexts of equality.
Within this framework, young people can make substantive and innovative contributions to addressing the challenges of sustainable development in the region, provided that they have the necessary capacities, institutional support and enabling conditions. The creation of effective participation spaces, together with comprehensive public policies that recognize the diversity of young people and support their educational, labour and social transitions, is key to incorporating their perspectives and proposals into development strategies.
In turn, the commitment to the implementation, follow up and review of the SDGs can have a positive impact on the comprehensive development of young people in the region and contribute to strengthen social cohesion.
The 2030 Agenda offers a shared framework for aligning individual and collective aspirations, fostering intergenerational co-responsibility, and moving towards more just, inclusive and sustainable societies, with equality as a guiding principle.
Young people in Latin America and the Caribbean are actively participating in the 2030 Agenda through a range of mechanisms and institutional spaces at the national, regional and global levels. These include their contributions to the voluntary follow-up and review processes of the SDGs, their organized participation in the ECOSOC Youth Forum and in the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development, as well as their involvement in regional consultations, multistakeholder platforms and related thematic networks. In particular, the activities promoted by the Regional Caucus of Children and Youth of Latin America and the Caribbean (MEsLAC–MGCY) , together with its affiliated organizations and members, have been central to the articulation of regional youth participation and it is the main body responsible for organizing the Regional Youth Forum held in the framework of the Forum of the Countries. Furthermore, young people are driving territorial, community-based and digital initiatives that translate the SDGs into concrete actions, strengthen accountability and expand spaces for intergenerational dialogue.
Youth Ideas Lab to Strengthen Youth Participation in Latin America (in Spanish)