Statement by Jennifer Vinas-Forcade, Alianza Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Juventudes (LAC Youth Alliance), Post 2015 Intergovernmental Negotiations, April 23rd
Good morning. On behalf of the Latin American and Caribbean Youth Alliance as part of the Youth Leadership Working Group, I am grateful for this opportunity.
It was not easy to prepare a statement for this week’s negotiations. After all, what are we really talking about when we speak of “implementation”? And when we use terms like “partnerships”, “empowerment”, “participation”, “investment”, a “transformative” and “universal” agenda? The overuse of these UN jargon “keywords” has turned them into “buzzwords”, emptying them of meaning.
Jennifer Vinas-ForcadeHave you tried explaining what you are doing here to your friends or family? Do they know what is at stake? If we truly want everyone to embrace the new development agenda, it is time to bring it back down to earth. We are not here just to have our ideas recorded. We are here to shape development that will impact all people in our diversity for the next fifteen years.
Young people are affected the most by your decisions here. We’ve heard it’s smart, profitable, and sustainable to invest in the demographic dividend and young people as human capital. However, this investment is not just about money. We must also build capacities, understanding, critical thinking and leadership of youth organizations and movements.
Resources are scarce. When planning the means of implementation and the financing of these goals, inequalities must be addressed, not only among countries but also within them. There are lots of people living in “least developed” contexts, even if they don’t live in a “least developed country”. For example, in Latin America's "middle income” economies, one-third of the population lives in poverty and there’s two "poor" youth for every "poor" adult aged 55+.
To guarantee the human rights of all is a state responsibility; it cannot be left to the markets. Governments around the world must tackle inequality by making social services accessible to everyone, including high-quality and comprehensive education, health, employment, social security and ICTs. Governments should work together in implementing efficient, progressive and fair taxation systems for redistributing wealth. To truly achieve sustainable development, everyone must play their part, south-south and north-south cooperation included.
Finally, transparency and accountability are required to guarantee a just rights-based approach to scarce resource allocation. That’s what this agenda, its implementation and financing should really be about. You have, today, the chance to bring meaning back into your words, turning ideas and compromises into reality. Thank you.