Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. In 1999, the UN General Assembly adopted a special resolution to announce August 12 as International Youth Day (IYD). Since then, we have been celebrating global Youth Day worldwide, and Mongolia even went further acclaiming August 25th as the Mongolian Youth Day. Every year, on these special days, we acknowledge and celebrate the vital role of young women and men as essential partners for a positive change and use it as a good chance to raise awareness of challenges and opportunities facing the youth.

The United Nations has been promoting youth empowerment, calling for greater investment in young people and sparking discussions on crucial issues related to their development. The Youth 2030, the broader UN Youth Strategy, protects the health and rights of young people and empowers them to shape their future and that of their country. Young people need to be healthy, educated and have control over their bodies and lives. In Mongolia, this is more relevant! Because one out of three people in Mongolia is considered as a young person and if we do not invest in them now, the future of Mongolia is at risk.

There are still existing gaps and unfinished business to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in Mongolia, especially in ensuring youth participation in decision-making, investing in their empowerment, and offering quality education and decent employment opportunities. The gaps also include the need for opening doors to exercise their rights responsibly, guiding for being accountable for their responsibilities, and providing access to quality health services, including sexual and reproductive health. Undoubtedly, addressing these issues at the policy and implementation level will fulfil every young person’s potential, thus contribute significantly to meeting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development for people, the planet and prosperity.

The theme of International Youth Day 2021 is “Transforming Food Systems: Youth Innovation for Human and Planetary Health”, intending to highlight that without meaningful youth participation, the global effort to transform food systems will not be successful.

Food is more than what we eat. It has been and will remain the foundation of our culture, our economy, and our relationship with nature. Food systems are also critical to some of the big global questions we are trying to address including poverty, food security, pandemics, climate change, resource scarcity, economic growth, stability, etc. At the core of all these, to some extent, we have food systems related issues.  Today, like any other country in the world, COVID 19 pandemic has challenged the already fragile food systems and their impacts on people, the planet, and prosperity.

Mongolia has the potential to drive economic development, positive social change, environmental sustainability, and technological innovation by engaging and investing in the youth and harnessing the demographic dividends. The current generation of adolescents and youth will have transitioned into adulthood by 2030, and we wish to see healthy, educated, employed, confident, responsible and global citizens.  

On this International Youth Day, we as United Nations urge the Government, civil society, private sector and everyone to invest in young people, increase investments in their education, health and their active engagement in inclusive and sustainable development in Mongolia! We call upon the youth for their active participation in transforming the food systems in Mongolia and globally.

                                                                                                                                                                                                            Source: UN Mongolia