Page 169 - FerMUN 2020 - Futurecasters Global Young Visionaries Summit, 8th-10th January 2020

Financial support to help poorer nations leverage the enormous promise of e-health platforms
and accelerate progress towards SDG 3 was one of the vital issues discussed by the WHO
Committee.

And the ITU Youth Assembly on gender looked at issues of concern around online violence and

harassment, and proposed the creation of a new organization dedicated to promoting
gender equality in the tech field.

In short, you all have demonstrated such a confident grasp of UN issues, debating protocols
and international collaboration that I am tempted to take a couple of weeks off and leave

you in charge!

Futurecasters,

Ladies and gentlemen,

These debates have been instructive, and they’ve been a lot of fun too. But for ITU, their value
goes far beyond that. These issues, and how well we manage them, will define the shape of
the world you inherit from us.

Just as digital platforms are evolving at lightning speed, so the disruptive effects of ICTs are also
transforming our world faster than at any other time in human history. It is the young – it is you –
who will both reap the benefits AND bear the brunt of this transformation.

Already, a full half of the global population is under 30. And nearly half of all young people live

in Sub-Saharan Africa, where 40% of the population is now under 15 years of age. That’s already
a huge youth demographic, and it’s getting bigger.

But while the young population has grown by almost 140 million over the past 20 years, so too
has youth unemployment. And for those young people who DO have jobs, many more are
working in informal jobs than people of my own generation.

At our opening ceremony, Fabrizio Hochschild spoke movingly about migration. It’s worth

noting that 70% of migrant flows comprise people under the age of 30. And according to
UNHCR, over half the world’s refugees are now children.

As ITU’s first crop of Futurecasters Young Global Visionaries, and the first true generation of
digital natives, I encourage you to continue to actively think about how we could use the

power of ICTs create the world that we want.

A world where everyone, no matter where they live, what their gender or what language they
speak, has access to the same basic rights and opportunities. A world where every young
person has the chance to prosper and realize his or her dreams.

Distinguished Futurecasters,

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