A group of global young influencers and young leaders from all corners of the world were selected by the European Union and the United Nations to bring young people's messages to the Secretary-General, Mr BAN Ki-moon.
Mr Luis ALVARADO MARTÍNEZ*, student of the Department of European Political and Administrative Studies of the College of Europe Bruges campus, had the privilege of being one of them. Mr ALVARADO MARTÍNEZ was introduced in front of 2000 people and the Secretary-General of the UN, as Vice President of the European Youth Forum, but also as a Master's student at the College of Europe.
It happened in the context of the European Sustainable Development Week of the EU, where the Secretary-General and the UN are currently engaged in efforts to shape the post-2015 agenda, developing the new Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 as a follow-up of the Millennium Development Goals.
Some of Mr ALVARADO MARTÍNEZ's phrases retweeted and picked up in the media were:
"By 2030, your generation will no longer be in control. It will be our generation who will have taken over institutions and the system. Not including us in the process and decision making of the post-2015 agenda, will imply that our generation will not feel the ownership nor responsibility to implement such goals and change the world. You decide Mr Secretary General."
"Having been born in a post-war context of peace and prosperity, our generation is the first one to be brought up, thanks to the efforts of your generation, in a globalized, interconnected and international context. This allows us not have artificial mental borders in our mind, and allows us to strongly believe that changing the world is possible. This is why we will change the world."
Press coverage:
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* Before joining the College, Luis ALVARADO MARTÍNEZ was president of AEGEE-Europe in Brussels and in December 2014 he received the "Young European of the Year 2014" Award by the Schwarzkopf Foundation in Germany.