12 Dec, 2024
Young people say freedom more important than climate justice
Bangkok – Young people participating in a webinar on Human Rights Day, December 10, have voted for freedom as being far more deserving of “urgent attention globally” than climate justice. The straw poll, conducted in a webinar featuring distinguished Professor Jeffrey Sachs, is a clear signal to the Travel & Tourism youth forums to start adjusting their agendas accordingly. 260 young people from all around the world participated in the webinar.
Organised monthly by the United Nations in cooperation with Compass Education, the webinars are designed to give high schoolers a “unique opportunity to engage directly with world leaders and UN officials on how to solve humanity’s greatest challenges.” This month’s webinar focussed on two questions: 1. Why are human rights essential in today’s world, and who holds the responsibility to protect them in the face of current global challenges? 2. How can young people and communities contribute to advancing equality, inclusion, and the protection of human rights, particularly for marginalized groups?
In his opening comments, Prof Sachs noted that the United Nations itself was formed in 1945, exactly 80 years ago next year, right after World War II to safeguard the world from devastating future conflicts. One of the UN’s most important early documents was the Human Rights Declaration in 1948 which was designed to uphold freedom of speech, belief and worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.
Today, however, he said “we live in an imperfect and dangerous world where those freedoms are not being respected.” He said there are “too many wars, too much violence, too many countries mistreating their citizens.”
Noting that Declaration still lacks proper monitoring and enforcement mechanisms, he specifically cited the ongoing genocidal violence in Gaza and the role of the United States in not doing enough to uphold the human rights standards it once held dear.
A Q&A session then probed the role of media and the veto power that allows the permanent members of the UN Security Council to unilaterally block any action which goes against their interests. Prof Sachs said the UN Security Council members need to be given power to over-ride a veto.
The following are screenshots from the webinar and the chatroom comments. It was only one hour long, but covered considerable ground, including the polls, comments in the chatrooms and other topics which can be used as a basis for discussions in Travel & Tourism Youth Forums.
With Prof Sachs on the panel was Ms Karimot Odebode, Award-winning Nigerian Poet, Lawyer and Founder of the Black Girl’s Dream Initiative, who spoke about the issue of violence against women.
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