During the 19th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Monterey, Mexico, Marc Dullaert, Founder of KidsRights, advocated for an “intergenerational coalition for change”. Dullaert was invited to participate and speak at the Summit which was held from 18 to 21 September 2024.
Addressing the Summit, Dullaert emphasised on the need to take youth participation seriously:
“Nearly 40 percent of the world’s population is under 24. Many policies decided today will affect their future. However, they have nearly no say in discussing them. It is a missed opportunity not to consult them or let them participate. Across countries, youth is very worried because of raging wars, climate change and the ongoing changes affecting their future, including access to quality education and decent work. They feel neglected and that their rights are not taken seriously or are denied.
In the 19th century, women stood up for equal rights and the “suffragettes” succeeded. In the 20th century, the civil rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King fought successfully for equal rights. The 21st century is the century for youth to stand up for their rights. We see clear signs of this.
Young moral leaders like Malala Yousafzai, X González (March For Our Lives movement) and Greta Thunberg stood up for their rights and organised huge youth movements. Many other young changemakers also received the International Children’s Peace Prize for standing up for children’s rights, impacted tangible positive change for their peers and have become beacons of hope.
Next to these iconic young changemakers, we see a growing movement of youth in all corners of the world – youth who want to become active and ignite positive change in their own community.
KidsRights provides these young changemakers the opportunity to connect with each other digitally via the “State of Youth”. Through State of Youth, the youth set up their own Chapters and lead impactful projects on the ground.
It is change “bottom up”. State of Youth is the first borderless online State for youth. We can speak of a very rapidly growing movement, launched at the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in 2019 in Merida, Mexico and the day after at the United Nations HQ in New York.
State of Youth is now active in 43 countries, primarily in the global south and is now heading for the global north.”
Dullaert thanked the Nobel Peace Laureates for welcoming and supporting the International Children’s Peace Prize in 2005 in Rome. Over the years, the International Children’s Peace Prize has become the world’s most important youth prize. On 19th November 2024, the 20th jubilee of the International Children’s Peace will be celebrated. Dullaert also expressed his gratitude for the support of the launch of State of Youth during the Summit in 2019.
It is now time to make the next step and back up this fast-growing youth movement as they hold the key for future change. They bring change bottom up. So, give them the floor and form a coalition with them.
Dullaert concluded by quoting late patron Desmond Tutu, “We owe it to them, we owe it to ourselves.“