Yesterday, on the 7th of February, the Youth Delegates of Romania had a speech which was delivered by my colleague Alexandra Martin in the plenary session of the Commission for Social Development.
This speech represents the common effort of many supporters and partners of the project, from which I would like to mention the Romanian Council for Youth and Oricum Association. Thank you all and I hope you like our intervention at the UN. Here it is:
“Madam Chair and honorable Delegates,
200 million youth live with less than 1$/ day, of the 130 million illiterate people in the world nearly 60 per cent are young women; youth also make up 44 per cent of the total unemployed population, although they represent 25 per cent of the working age population and I cannot be but grateful to have the opportunity to be here and to present an overview of our ideals, honest thoughts and proposals for joining our efforts in building up a better world.
The progress achieved so far has a main role in our development process, yet the fight is far to be concluded. Taking into account the present global perspectives young people face new challenges and it is our moral obligation to cooperate, especially now when youth are voicing their concerns whilst they keep facing new risks. Continue reading ‘Our Speech at the CSocD!’
It’s been a long time since you’ve read my last post on this blog, but since I’m back in New York, this time for The Commission for Social Development(CSocD) I’m thinking it is time to revitalize my blog and let you all know what the Romania’s Youth Delegates are doing in this time of the year.
After spending 20 hours in the Milan airport because of bad weather, we started working with our Mission and other youth delegates at the draft for the resolution on youth that you will all have the opportunity to see soon. Although not many countries decided to send youth delegates for the CSocD, we are all very enthusiast and restless. The new resolution on youth has brought a lot of interest from all of the member states and the negotiations are quite hard on this matter.
Me and Alexandra have prepared a speech for today’s plenary session regarding youth participation and social integration, and we will post the speech as soon as we’re going to deliver it.
Otherwise, it is very cold in New York, but since we haven’t had the time for anything else besides the CScoD and the work at the Romanian Mission we couldn’t care less for the weather. We do hope that it’s going to be a lot warmer in the weekend.
I’ll try to keep you posted with everything.
Another busy week for me at the UN and I would first like to express my regret for not being able to keep you guys updated on a daily basis.
The most important event that marked our week was the youth delegates side event “Do not sever your lifeline!
Why involving young people is crucial for development, especially in achieving the MDGs, and how to engage them.” It was an one hour and a half side event, entirely organized by the youth delegates, in which we discussed the importance of involving youth into the fight to achieve the MDG’s and different ways and examples in which we can inform and implicate young people into this process.
Beside the general discusions on the topic, we had some scheduled interventions from H.E. Frank Majoor - Permanent Representative of the Kingdom Netherlands, Mr. Salil Shetty - Director of the Millennium Campaign, Mrs. Laura Laski - Coordinator Adolescent and Youth Cluster, UNFPA, Mrs. Fraziska Steel - Director Global Youth Action Network and two statements from the youth delegates of Thailand and Jamaica.
The event ended with the wonderful performance of the poet Aja‐Monet Bacquie.
I would also like to once more express my appreciation towards the Romanian Permanent Mission at the United Nations, whose representatives showed a great interest and support for this event - Amb. Simona-Mirela Miculescu, Mr. Traian FILIP - Minister Counsellor, Deputy Permanent Representative and our SUPERvisor for this General Assembly - Mr. Alexandru CIOROBEA - Third Secretary.
Unfortunately, we are experiencing some technical difficulties with attaching pictures to our posts, but I’m going to get back to you with some photos as well, shortly.
Although it’s now a weekend and we’re all trying to relax a little bit, me and Alexandra have had quite a busy weekend, preparing some proposals for bringing youth more into attention, by modifying some paragraphs from the Education for All Resolution. I don’t know about the last years, but I can now say that I have the privilege to work with some very active, intelligent and enthusiastic youth delegates from 16 other countries, that are really trying to make a change and involve the youth ideals and spirit into everything that UN is doing. Also, it is really a great opportunity for us to be working with the Romanian Permanent Mission here, that seems a little bit out of the usual picture that we all got used to already back home - hard working people, always open to our ideas and needs. UN is a very old organization and I find it to be the most caution structure that I have ever been in contact with. This is why, every word in every resolution must be properly interpreted and analyzed from all points of view, making our work here a very long but durable process.
Tuesday afternoon, me and Alexandra held a speech in the Third Committee for Social Development at the United Nations. Although initialy we each prepared one speech, due to procedural limitations we had to have a common message for the UN.
Since this is my personal blog :-p, I’m ataching my original speech, as it was meant to be, and you can all read our common speech on the unyouthdelegate.ro and on the unyouthdelegates.org websites, where it will be uploaded shortly.
Here it goes:
“ Mr. Chairman and honorable delegates,
A lot of people travel many miles to find the end of the world. As we all know, the world is round and the end is fortunately nowhere to be found, but now, we can all say that the world as we know it, has a top, and that top of the world in 2008 is in a symbolic way represented by the United Nations - a place where the entire humanity gathers and works together for achieving the goals that they have themselves agreed upon. Continue reading ‘My message towards the nations present at the UN!’
Ieri s-a deschis primul centru de informare turistica din Cluj-Napoca. Situat ultra-central, centrul ofera celor interesati informatii legate de cazare, obiective si trasee turistice, precum si acces gratuit la internet sau harti virtuale ale orasului.
Daca veniti pentru prima data in Cluj, sau chiar daca ati mai fost, dar nu ati apucat sa gustati putin din istoria si frumusetea acestui oras va recomand cu caldura acest centru, situat pe Bulevardul Eroilor nr. 6-8, mai ales ca toate facilitatile oferite sunt gratuite.
O initiativa laudabila a primariei Cluj-Napoca pe care sper sa o vedem copiata in cat mai multe orase din tara.
Dupa un drum lung si obositor, am reusit sa ne intalnim cu totii sambata la Cluj, in sediul OSM si am inceput sa punem tara la cale.
Toata intalnirea s-a axat in jurul meu si al Alexandrei, si le multumesc Corinei, Biancai, Dariei si lui Andrei pentru tot suportul pe care ni l-au acordat in acest weekend.
Dupa un curs intensiv despre modul de functionare a mecanismelor ONU, am discutat prerogativele noastre in acest mandat, despre care va voi mai multe detalii imediat ce terminam de editat tot materialul, precum si despre relatia noastra cu institutiile statului si cu tinerii romani de pretutindeni.
Intalnirea a culminat duminica cu o mica “masa rotunda” cu alti tineri deosebit de inteligenti si entuziasti, reprezentanti ai unor organizatii studentesti din Cluj-Napoca. Am pus bazele unui grup de discutii pe care va invit sa intrati, in cazul in care va intereseaza problematica ONU si am analizat impreuna problemele intampinate de tinerii romani in ceea ce priveste gasirea unui loc de munca si migrarea tinerilor spre alte tari - teme pe care eu si Alexandra le vom dezbate si la New York in toamna, in cadrul Adunarii Generale a ONU.
Adresa grupului este tineri_la_onu@googlegroups.com si va invitam sa aderati la el si sa dezbatem impreuna toate problemele care ne intereseaza.
Le multumesc tuturor pentru un weekend minunat si sper sa ne revedem in curand la Bucuresti pentru ca urmeaza o serie de intalniri deosebit de importante asupra carora voi reveni intr-un post viitor.
O imagine face cat o mie de cuvinte. Intotdeauna am crezut in campanii violente, in imagini socante in mesaje stridente si culori care-ti zgarie privirea si sunete care-ti ametesc auzul.
Asta cred ca se poate vedea si din unul din post-urile mele precedente in care apare un afis folosit de mine in cateva campanii anti-fumat. E intr-adevar socant, dezgustator sa vezi o domnisoara in halul ala, dar de 4 ani de cand folosim acel afis, a fost cel mai criticat poster de care am auzit si a avut in acelasi timp impactul cel mai mare asupra populatiei tinta. De ce? Pentru ca socheaza. Pentru ca e altceva, e diferit fata de ceea ce oamenii vad in fiecare zi. Oricat de urat ar parea, e un poster pe care oamenii il dezlipesc de pe pereti si il pun la ei in camere, sau vin si ne cer pentru prietenii lor fumatori un astfel de poster.
Traim intr-o lume in care e din ce in ce mai greu sa sochezi, dar cum imaginatia noastra nu are limite, probabil ca nu vom duce niciodata lipsa de mesaje socante si campanii agresive. Atata timp cat scopul este atins si mesajul ajunge acolo unde trebuie eu voi sustine si promova tot ceea ce socheaza.
Iata un alt exemplu de campanie mai neobisnuita: campania de strangere de fonduri pentru salvarea faunei din Delta Dunarii. Organizatia respectiva a primit chiar si doua premii in cadrul Galei Societatii Civile pentru succesul campaniei lor.
Enjoy it!
Salut
Asa cum va spuneam in urma cu ceva timp, in acest weekend vom avea o mica intalnire la Cluj-Napoca la care vor participa actualii delegati de tineret la NU (printre care si eu), fosti delegati de tineret - Andrei si Corina, care acum reprezinta cu brio Organizatia ORICUM pentru Educatie si reprezentanti ai CTR.
Highlight-ul intalnirii va fi mica conferinta de duminica, la care am invitat cate un reprezentant din fiecare organizatie studenteasca din Cluj si la care vom discuta mai pe larg despre tot ce inseamna politici de tineret in Romania si cum putem face in asa fel incat vocea oricarui tanar sa aiba ecou in forurile superioare de luare a deciziilor.
Deocamdata nu s-au terminat pregatirile, deci o sa va tin la curent cu tot ce se mai intampla.
În 1987 ţarile membre ale Organizaţiei Mondiale a Sănătăţii (WHO) au creat Ziua mondială de luptă împotriva fumatului! De atunci în fiecare an sunt organizate evenimente de amploare prin care se încearcă reducerea numărului de fumători din întreaga lume.
Consumul de tutun este a doua cauză a mortalităţii în lume şi în Europa, conform Organizaţiei Mondiale a Sănătăţii. Fumatul este responsabil pentru 75% dintre infarctele la fumătorii cu vârsta sub 50 ani şi pentru 30% dintre decesele cauzate de diferitele forme de cancer.
Personal am ajuns în al 4-lea an de campanii antifumat, anul acesta participând la o ampla campanie de informare (pliante şi afişe) cu privire la pericolele prezentate de fumat şi la a doua ediţie a petrecerii “fără fumuri” din unul dintre cele mai mari cluburi ale Clujului, unde pentru o seara nu s-a fumat deloc.
Faptul că fumatul dăunează grav sănătăţii este un lucru cunoscut şi acceptat de toată lumea, inclusiv de producători. Eu încă cred că o legislaţie mai aspră, care să fie şi aplicată ar rezolva o mare parte din problemele cauzate de fumat, dar înţeleg în acelaşi timp şi puterea lobby-ului şi de ce paşii făcuţi de autorităţi sunt deocamdată destul de timizi.
Vă recomand cu căldură filmul “Thank you for smoking!”, un film excelent, despre politica companiilor producătoare de ţigări şi o lecţie veritabilă despre lobby şi manipularea cuvintelor şi a minţilor umane.
Asupra dependenţelor şi a dependenţilor voi mai reveni într-un alt post.
