Welcome to the home of the YouthUpUN Campaign
This website serves as a tool for decision-makers and youth activists who wish to see a United Nations that is reflective of the world around it. There is a lack of meaningful and inclusive engagement, representation, and participation of young people in and throughout the UN, and this campaign serves to end that!
The issue
The YouthUpUN campaign was developed in 2019 by CHOICE for Youth and Sexuality as a strategy to tackle the perceived neglect of youth and their human rights at the Human Rights Council (HRC) and its mechanisms in Geneva. Reports and resolutions consistently overlook the unique needs of youth, and young people themselves struggle to engage in discussions that concern their lives.
Without a youth presence, the HRC is not sufficiently able to represent the needs of young people, nor adequately tackle the issues they face around the world today. Political participation is a human right, yet young people do not have the opportunity to exercise that right at the Human Rights Council.
Young people are affected by almost every human right that is addressed by the UN, but they have almost no say about how they are protected or progressed. The mechanisms of the Human Rights Council must be inclusive of the needs and lived realities of the diverse youth it serves. When we do see young people at the UN it is often tokenistic and not meaningful, if they can get there in the first place. UN bureaucracy is not youth-friendly, and many young people experience challenges related to financial constraints, visa issues, safeguarding, and being seen as lacking knowledge. There are few spaces where meaningful and inclusive youth participation is institutionalised and embedded into the ways of working throughout the mechanisms of the Human Rights Council.
The campaign
YouthUpUN aims to increase meaningful youth participation at the Council, and succeed in enabling young people to have more control over the human rights issues that concern them and policies that aim to address their needs. Representatives from diplomatic missions and key UN staff are seen as the primary stakeholders that have the power to make a change in this situation, and the campaign aims to work with them and hold them accountable to delivering on their obligations towards youth.
YouthUpUN aims to eventually be an autonomous movement working to increase meaningful and inclusive youth engagement and representation at the Human Rights Council.
The vision of the YouthUpUN campaign is threefold;
- Change the negative perceptions about Young People.
- Create structural change to foster meaningful and inclusive youth participation and representation at the Human Rights Council.
- Build capacity on meaningful and inclusive youth participation and confirm commitments from decision-makers to actively work and ensure meaningful and inclusive youth participation and representation at the Human Rights Council.
Are you interested in joining the YouthUpUN Campaign and being an ally for the youth agenda? Send us an email at info@youthupun.org
The Dream
We envision a Human Rights Council where youth are meaningfully and inclusive participating on equal level with their adult counterparts. Where youth are not seen as inexperienced nor unknowledgeable, but as important members of the Council. Young people are not a homogenous group. We have diverse voices, identities and experiences, and one young person cannot speak for all. We see a future where the Human Rights Council is inclusive and open to all young people who want to protect their human rights!
“ Young people are not a homogenous group. We have diverse voices, identities and experiences ”
Meaningful and inclusive youth participation can take on a variety of different forms in advocacy work, including, but not limited to; creating a youth-led advocacy agenda, involving youth in data collection for evidence-based advocacy, or ensuring and pushing for youth representation in advocacy spaces. When advocating for young people’s needs, it is important to also meaningfully engage young people because this improves the legitimacy of the messaging and perspective, as well as the relevance of decision-making on youth issues by ensuring that those with the direct experience of a situation have their voices heard.
Resources
The YouthUpUN Campaign has compiled a list of resources for those who are passionate about tackling tokenism and lack of youth participation, and instead push for meaningful and inclusive youth participation throughout all Human Rights Council mechanisms.
“ In spaces like the Human Rights Council, our tools are not just policies or strategies, but our energy, unique experiences and fresh ideas that breathe life into the UN ”
Lisa Philippo, CHOICE for Youth and Sexuality
For decision-makers
Are you a policy-maker interested in working better together with youth? Then this is for you!
YouthUpUN Toolkit for Decision-Makers
How to be more youth-inclusive in decision-making; a guide
Youth-Adult Partnerships (English)
How to work with youth to create a youth-inclusive environment
Youth-Adult Partnerships (French)
Comment travailler avec les jeunes pour créer un environnement qui les intègre?
For Activists
Are you a young person (or adult ally) looking to advocate for meaningful and inclusive youth participation? Then this is for you!
UN Language Tool
An Advocate's Guide to UN Language
Factsheet on the Human Rights Council
Factsheet on the Who? What? Where? and Why? of the Human Rights Council
Flower of Participation
The Flower of Participation is a tool that uses the metaphor of a blooming flower to describe the different forms of MYP and how MYP can grow and flourish.
Flower of Participation (French)
La fleur de la participation est un outil qui utilise la métaphore d’une fleur pour décrire les différentes formes de PSJ (MYP) et comment la PSJ peut grandir et s’épanouir.
So You're Going to the UN?
A beginner's guide to advocating at the UN
2030 Agenda Guide
A Youth-Friendly guide to advocacy using the 2030 Agenda