During my time working with the Uruguayan government, I had a lot of contact with the United Nations system in the country, including agencies such as the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations children’s agency (UNICEF) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). We had quite a few initiatives in common, including a national project on issues related to the mental health and well-being of adolescents and young people. It was through these lines of cooperation that I began to understand how the United Nations works.
I was still pursuing a master’s degree in administration at the University of Florida when I applied to lead the first United Nations Youth Office. My goal was to help the organization maintain the best possible connection with young people, not only listening to them but also involving them in collaboration and participation. Eight months later, I received a call from Amina Mohammed, the UN Deputy Secretary-General, telling me that I had been selected for the position and would start in 15 days.
The Secretary General meets with the Undersecretary General for Youth Affairs
The first year was focused on understanding the challenges, building the team, identifying how to add value to the work of youth organizations and States, positioning the office as a space to raise awareness on various issues. I believe that the purpose of the Office of Youth Affairs is to collaborate, disseminate information and raise awareness about the interests and concerns of all young people around the world.
The three youth agendas of the UN Youth Office
Talking about a youth agenda means understanding and supporting a very large movement that we address from three central dimensions.
The first is the participation agenda. It is urgent that the new generations be taken into account in decision-making areas. We connect with various efforts that are being made to link civil society with the United Nations, creating innovative scenarios where young people feel represented, part of the spaces of power, and that their concerns are considered and addressed.
The second is the peace and security agenda. In the current global situation, with the highest number of active conflicts since World War II, we have seen young people take the lead in promoting the peace agenda and demanding that governments end wars.
Felipe Paullier, Undersecretary General for Youth Affairs, with a group of young defenders in Thailand.
The third issue that stands out among the priorities is mental health and well-being. Millions of young people around the world face a silent crisis that affects every dimension of their lives: hopelessness about the future; a digital culture marked by hate speech; lack of opportunities in education, employment and housing; the climate crisis; and the absence of spaces for care and connection. All of this generates anxiety, depression and, in the most serious cases, loss of meaning and suicide.
That is why we are promoting a Global Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing Initiative, which in just a few months has already brought together more than 600 youth-led organizations in more than 80 countries, impacting more than 13 million people (81 percent of whom are young people).
This initiative combines youth empowerment with connections to international mental health networks and international organizations working in the field, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and the United Nations agency for education, science and culture (UNESCO). At the same time, it promotes political advocacy for many more states to recognize youth mental health as a priority and develop policies that respond to this urgent need.
The young participants reflected on their personal journeys, challenges and motivations as change agents, entrepreneurs and advocates.
Mental health in the age of social media
The focus is on how we engage with technology in a rapidly changing world. What can we do in a world where we are more interconnected than ever but at the same time much more isolated? That is the dichotomy we are experiencing in this era. Social networks pose a great challenge because they end up creating bubbles where people only connect with others who think the same.
The way these networks’ algorithms are designed often leads to more polarized discourse, but also allows people to take advantage of anonymity by spreading aggressive messages. Hence the need for more meeting spaces to promote dialogue between people, because in these digital spaces dialogue does not exist; There are only positions and people do not listen to each other; they confront each other.
When we look for answers, we will surely find them by returning to the Charter of the United Nations, which describes the essence of the organization: dialogue, celebration of diversity and international cooperation. Young people are already doing their part. Small individual changes, when added up, are what ultimately drive global agendas.”