Youth Leadership and Global Challenges at Geneva Conference

What a privilege for all of us to be together here in [snorts] Geneva. First, I want to say a happy new year to all of us. We have this wonderful opportunity to meet here at the very beginning of the year 2025. The beginning of a new year always means a fresh start. Just like this white paper here. Nothing is written on it yet. So, let's take this motivation and energy and create something new. Let's search for solutions for urgent problems in the world. And I can promise you already a week filled with great discussions, interesting topics, and wonderful shared moments of friendship.

Now, the big topic of this year's conference is labor. Unfortunately, there are still a lot to do in this domain. And the future will probably get even more challenging. Our whole world is constantly evolving. Artificial intelligence, robots, ChatGPT. It surely has its advantages. But, how can we deal with increasing number of people losing their jobs? Or let's take a look at another topic, migration. In order to ensure their survival, more and more people need to take greater risks. Sometimes, migrant workers find no other solution than working in an unsafe and illegal space.

They're unprotected from harm, exploitation, or even abuse. As you can see, we are facing significant challenges in the world of labor right now. And new ones will certainly appear in the future. So, the question is, how do we create an environment where everyone is protected, included, where everyone has decent working rights as a human being? Perhaps some of you are telling yourselves that the world I'm trying to describe is a dream world, a fantasy. It simply cannot be a reality. And while I agree that it doesn't seem possible to make everyone happy, I want you to ask yourselves, when did we stop believing? When did we stop dreaming?

I think one of our strengths as teenagers is our imagination. The power to envision things. Do you remember the times we used to live in this sort of a pink bubble as a child, where everything was possible? I think deep in all of us is still a part of that young child who believed in miracles, who used to play with other children on vacation in another country, despite not knowing the same language, we were able to communicate. We were able to bridge our differences and just play. And there were no boundaries to our imagination. This is for me the magic in MUN.

Just look around you for a moment. Students from 18 countries traveled here. We have people from Mexico, Germany, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, or the US. All those different traditions, cultures, and points of views. Just like those little kids back then, we can start playing, working together again this week. Whatever seems to separate us can actually be seen as a strength. It shows just how diverse we all are. How much we can learn from each other.

Now, I'm sure that many of us teenagers heard people say that we are way too young. We don't understand the complexity behind problems. We are too naive. We should wait until we grow up and then start acting. Well, I don't believe so. I can tell you that I have met experts from international organizations here who are very much looking forward to hear what we are proposing. They are interested in what we have to say. They want to hear our voices. And therefore, I want to conclude by quoting one man, Johan Stander from the WMO.

He was standing here 2 years ago, and what he said still resonates in me. You are not the youth. You are the leaders. And therefore, let's put this pink bubble back on and imagine. Thank you. Join our global community of English learners, absolutely free. Download video transcripts, listen offline, start our beginner course, and join live classes with certified teachers. Access over 1,000 resources to improve your English faster. Everything's in one place, community.englishspeeches.ca. Let's speak English together.