On February 10th, QUNO New York hosted a group of Young Adult Friends (YAF) at Quaker House. The session was titled “Learning from Each Other: Young Adult Friends and the Quaker United Nations Office” and was organized in partnership with the New York Yearly Meeting. Over a day-long session, the group came together to exchange views on where young Friends hope for more engagement from Quaker peace practitioners, and how QUNO’s role at the UN intersects with these perspectives.  

QUNO NY Programme Assistant, Sadhbh O’Driscoll, delivered a statement on behalf of the Friends World Committee for Consultation during the ‘Torchbearers for the SDGs’ youth consultation on August 11, International Youth Day. The consultation was hosted by the United Nations Envoy on Youth and the Major Group for Children and Youth. The theme of the consultation was Meaningful Youth Engagement and the 2030 Agenda.

On April 26, QUNO NY hosted a hybrid side event for the ECOSOC Youth Forum and Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. The event titled, ‘Youth Impact: Building Connections to Elevate Action,’ provided a space for youth to come together at Quaker House to share experiences from within their communities as well as challenges they face when engaging with the UN during these forums.

On 30 August, UN Member States and civil society representatives came together to discuss and identify ways to strengthen youth engagement in the General Assembly (GA). Kavita Desai, one of QUNO’s Quaker UN Representatives, spoke on behalf of the Civil Society-UN Prevention Platform, which is co-facilitated by QUNO’s New York office and the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC). The Platform works to support the UN’s prevention agenda through strengthening coordination and information sharing between civil society organizations and the UN.

Meaningful political inclusion and participation of young people is key for building lasting peace and sustainable development.  Under its “Youth, Peace and Security” or YPS policy agenda the UN has also increasingly created opportunities for young peacebuilders. However fundamental challenges, like protection, remain and truly inclusive and partner-based policies and practices are not yet the norm. QUNO aims to build on the UN’s momentum by engaging with young people in different regions through consultative dialogues to discern the direction of our work on YPS in an inclusive way.