Overview
PrepComs and the International Youth Caucus
Related international youth events for WSSD preparations
Overview
The Youth Summit Team was very active
in supporting and contributing to the work of the international
youth community for the WSSD. This was a challenge, as the UN
process can often seem overwhelmingly complex to newcomers and
there is much diversity in the opinions surrounding common global
issues.
The information below relates specifically
to the involvement of youth in the international process. It
may be useful to have a general understanding of WSSD international
preparations before learning about the specific role youth have
played. Feel free to visit the WSSD
Overview before proceeding!
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PrepComs and the International
Youth Caucus
There were four international preparatory
meetings for the WSSD, the first three were held at UN Headquarters
in New York and the final PrepCom occurred in Bali, Indonesia.
PrepCom IV
PrepCom III
PrepCom II
PrepCom I
PREPCOM IV
The Bali meeting finalized the agenda
and organization details for the Summit. In particular, the
youth caucus lobbied around youth concerns for the declaration
that Heads of State and Government will adopt in Johannesburg;
the draft implementation programme that will determine what
governments commit to; and concerns for partnership initiatives
that involve various stakeholders. Lindsay Cole was the youth
on the government delegation and was joined by fellow YSTers
Giselle Weybrecht and Clarisse Kehler-Siebert working with the
international youth caucus. There were four multi-stakeholder
dialogue sessions in Bali and youth worked to prepare both a
dialogue paper and statements for the following session:
To see PrepCom IV documents, click
here.
PREPCOM III
PrepCom III provided a chance for governments
and related agencies to carefully examine and negotiate issues
in the Chairman's text that resulted from PrepCom II. There
were no official multi-stakeholder dialogues, so the youth caucus
was left to lobby in the hallways and behind the scenes! Shalene
Jobin was the official youth on the government delegation and
was joined by Aileen Penner and Megan Bradley. Clarisse Kehler-Siebert
was also present to attend the Stakeholder Forum for Our Common
Future's third annual International Advisoy Board meeting. (The
Youth Summit Team was invited in Spring 2001 to sit on the SF
International Advisory Board). Jessica Grenier from the Québec
Association for WSSD was also working with the YST to lobby
youth concerns. A major victory of youth lobbying efforts was
recognition of the need for education for sustainable development
and to have the Canadian delegation voice their support for
making educators a tenth Major Group. To learn more, take a
look at the related documents.
While at PrepCom III, several YST members
took the time to engage in some "non-political" activities
that caught the attention of many delegates and participants.
Shalene and Clarisse designed self-sustainability business cards
that had a coupon allowing the delegates a fifteen minute walk
outdoors, printed on the backside. Needless to say, delegates
were caught a little off guard!
PREPCOM II
PrepCom II was a key event because from
the multi-stakeholder dialogue sessions, reports from inter-government
bodies, UN agencies and other working groups, the Bureau produced
the Chairman's Report that became the basis for negotiations
for the WSSD Programme of Action. It was also a busy two weeks
for the international youth caucus, as it worked to both prepare
for the dialogue sessions and to solidify its leadership and
structure for future work on the WSSD. Leif Holmberg of Sweden
and Yoli Makhasi of South Africa agreed to coordinate future
preparations for the dialogue session and related youth caucus
initiatives. Our official youth delegate was Megan Bradley,
who was joined by a Youth Agenda 2002 team of Geneva Guérin,
Giselle Weybrecht, Claudia Octeau, and Julie Larsen. Read the
documents below for the full picture of youth participation
at PrepCom II.
Other youth documents that emerged from
PrepCom II include:
PREPCOM I
The first PrepCom was more or less an
organizational meeting that elected the Bureau composed of 10
members from regional governments, decided modalities for future
meetings and considered the process for setting the agenda to
determine themes for the Summit. There was a dialogue session
for major groups and it was here that it became evident the
need for youth to become more organized to be able to effectively
participate in international Summit preparations. After discussions
with the all youth present at PrepCom I, it was decided that
Leif Holmberg and Julie Larsen would carry forward ideas for
youth collaboration for further discussion at the Borgholm Conference
in Sweden (see below). Julie, Andrew Angus and Patrick McCurdy
were present at this first step towards the Summit!
PrepCom I
Dialogue Speech
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Related international youth
events for WSSD preparations
The
Youth Conference on Environment and Sustainable Development,
Borgholm, Sweden
UNEP, in conjunction with both the Swedish
government and a Danish organization called Nature & Youth,
organized a series of two conferences designed to facilitate
international youth preparations for the WSSD. The first took
place in Borgholm, Sweden in May 2001 and allowed youth to work
both in thematic and regional groups. It was in Borgholm that
South Africa was asked to be an organizing partner for international
WSSD youth preparations. Julie Larsen and Frederic Gagnon-Lebrun
were present from Youth Agenda 2002, along with other young
Canadians.
Global
Youth Forum, Denmark
The Global Youth Forum gathered youth
internationally in March 2002 to further the work started in
Borgholm and through the international youth caucus. Several
key youth documents and informative newsletters were produce
so that youth around the world could follow and use outcomes
of this international work.
