BY RAYNALD C RIVERA
DOHA: Expressing concern over the millions displaced around the world, the Chief of the United Nations World Humanitarian Summit Secretariat yesterday urged the youth to be actively involved in offering innovative solutions to the worsening global humanitarian crisis.
“The year 2015 has the highest number of possibly displaced persons since World War II. Almost 60 million men, women and children were forced off their homes, their schools and their lands because of conflicts and natural disasters. This is just a little below the total population of Italy and also means that one person is displaced every three seconds,” Jemilah Mahmood told over 300 participants at the opening of the first-ever Global Youth Consultation (GYC) of the UN’s World Humanitarian Summit (WHS).
“Almost 50 percent, even more in some regions, of all people are children and youth. The average age of displacement is 17 years. Young men and women are also more vulnerable to recruitment and exploitation,” she explained on the severity of the crisis.
She cited as an example the desperate attempt of migrants from Africa and the Middle East in recent weeks to reach Europe risking their lives to free themselves from poverty and conflicts.
“Humanitarian action needs to evolve in order to keep pace in the rapidly changing world. We need to involve more actors in decision-making, leverage new strategies and take advantage of emerging technologies. This is where I call on you young people to lead the way.”
She lauded “the potential and determination of young people in the most challenging circumstances” as they proactively got involved in recent disasters and crises such as the earthquake in Nepal and the ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Scouts provided relentless support to rescue teams in Nepal while young humanitarians provides psychosocial support in ebola-hit areas as well as distribute nutritional products to pregnant and lactating mothers in post-earthquake Haiti.
“If Strategically engaged, young people can play critical role in the success of humanitarian response during conflicts.”
She urged the youth to keep governments and international organisations accountable to their promises. She also asked the youth “to rebuild trust and hope again because with current lack of trust in the world, humanitarian needs are not been efficiently addressed.
She called on the delegates to engage in substantive discussions about the future of humanitarian actions, highlight the emerging youth priorities in humanitarian settings, present their capacity to be active partners and agents of change and provide new and innovative ideas on initiating humanitarian actions.
“I challenge you to put on your thinking caps and come up with possible and best solutions to great humanitarian challenges facing us, foster increased collaboration and shared innovations. I also encourage you to create a platform for your generation to be heard and ultimately inspire greater actions in involvement of young people. We need to capture your knowledge, energy, experience and best practices so we can connect as a world and learn from each other.”
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