Take on the ActNow challenge

I salute young people around the world for standing up, speaking out and working for real change. We need you. And I am fully committed to bringing young people into political decision-making; not just listening to your views, but acting on them.  

We established a new Youth Office in the United Nations to advance advocacy, coordination, participation, and accountability for and with young people. We will renew the United Nations Youth Strategy — to take this work to the next level. And I am committed to making sure young people have a strong role as we gear up for the Summit of the Future in September. That includes this Forum’s discussions, virtual consultations on the Pact for the Future — which will include a chapter on youth and future generations — and your work mobilizing in your communities.

We are also holding a youth-led action day as the Summit begins, so that your voices are heard from the start.

The Summit of the Future is a pivotal moment to turbocharge the SDGs (sustainable development goals), and reinvigorate multilateralism. We have already put forward a number of concrete ideas on strengthening youth engagement for Member States to consider. This includes: establishing national youth consultative bodies, a global standard for meaningful youth engagement in decision-making, and creating a UN Youth Townhall. 

We are also working to advance a Global Digital Compact to help build a world where digital technologies support sustainable development — including education and jobs for young people: A world where children and young people are protected online, benefit from digital technologies, and have a say in the decisions shaping digital life.

We have created a High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence to make recommendations on international governance of AI. This group of experts is gender-balanced. It includes young leaders and people from the Global South. And it is feeding into the Global Digital Compact. 

We have also proposed a New Agenda for Peace, to renew and strengthen multilateral security frameworks, and to embed young people’s participation in peace and security institutions that are funded in full. 

As we are pushing for reform of the United Nations Security Council and a fundamental overhaul of the international financial architecture, we count on youth engagement and leadership. Many of today’s developing countries had no voice when those institutions were established eight decades ago. These systems were designed by the rich and remain controlled by the rich. And are failing in some of their most basic functions.

We must shake off the relics of the past, and create institutions that reflect the world today. And serve its needs. This is a matter of justice.

I urge all Member States to get behind our proposals. And I ask young people to join forces with allies and partners across civil society — to demand that governments make the Summit count. You can start by supporting the Summit of the Future digital campaigns we are launching today: Take on the ActNow challenge — and share it with your networks — to show leaders how many of us demand a sustainable future for all; and sign the open letter to world leaders on reviving multilateralism, launched today by the United Nations Youth Office.

Beyond the Summit of the Future, I salute young people for being on the frontlines for bold climate action. The transition to renewables must be just, and it must be sustainable. We will soon launch our Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals — to help to ensure developing countries benefit fully from this transition.  

My Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change will have a seat on this panel — and will help to engage young people in its work.

Developed countries must also keep their promises on climate finance. And governments must make generous contributions to the new Loss and Damage Fund as a step towards climate justice. And we must all push to get finance flowing to sustainable development more broadly — to turbocharge the Sustainable Development Goals. That includes countries backing and implementing our plans for an SDG Stimulus and supporting deep reforms to the Multilateral Development Banks.

Every generation serves as caretaker of this world. Let’s be honest: mine has been careless with that responsibility. But yours gives me hope. The United Nations stands with you. Together, let’s deliver justice. Let’s deliver solutions. And let’s create a world of peace and prosperity for all.

Excerpts of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ remarks to the 2024 ECOSOC Youth Forum on 16 April 2024.