1. Youth Flash
UN Home | UN DESA DSPD - Youth
June 2012
In this issue of Youth Flash, you will find the following:
Feature Article:
Youth discuss sustainable development in the context of the Rio +20
News from UN offices
News from UN Information Centers (UNIC)
Youth in Action
Publications
Feature Article:
The Youth Blast –Conference of Youth for Rio+20 is the official
event of the Major Group for Children and Youth and is being
organized by several young Brazilians and young people from
Youth discuss sustainable around the world from movements and organizations that work
with youth. The initiative is implemented by the National Youth
development in the context of the Rio Secretariat of the General Secretariat of the Presidency of Brazil
+20 with the support of the Brazilian National Youth Council and the
Secretariat of the United Nations.
Young people from several countries will exchange experiences
and plan activities to mobilize and focus on Rio+20
Around 3000 young people from around the world will gather in
Rio de Janeiro, between 7 and 12 June to attend the Youth Blast -
Youth Conference for Rio+20. The event is part of the official
schedule of activities leading up to Rio+20 – United Nations
Conference on Sustainable Development and the main objectives
are to empower, engage and enable children and young people to
act in the official proceedings of the Conference, besides
facilitating exchanges of experiences and solutions of the issues
that permeate the official process.
More than ever, the transition to a new type of development that
has as the pillars of social welfare, economic prosperity and
environmental preservation is necessary. The difficulties of
implementing the agreements signed in recent years will require
from Rio+20 not only the renewal of an international political The event will be divided into two distinct stages 7 and 8 June
commitment, but mostly a call to action for sustainable will be directed at the exclusive participation of young
development. The direct involvement and the incidence of youth in Brazilians. The 10-12 June will be open to participation by
young people from different countries. During this period,
Rio +20 should help significantly in finding solutions and building activities will be conducted in English. There will be
an agenda for a new global governance. simultaneous translation into Portuguese, French and Spanish.

2. Youth Flash Newsletter June 2012
The Youth Blast will offer a diverse program with workshops, http://www.facebook.com/UNCSDYouthCaucus
training, self-organized activities, lectures, capacity building, and Twitter:
also specific times for planning activities and actions of incidence https://twitter.com/#!/MGCY_UNCSD; #YBRio
and mobilization to be developed by young people during the Sign up for Press and Free Media:
official Conference. http://youth-
blast.org/index.php?option=com_zoo&view=frontpage&Itemid=
Participants will have the opportunity to understand more about 4
Rio+20, what its importance is, the People's Summit and other Press:
parallel processes, what is at stake in the discussions, what the Brazilian Press;
position of Brazil and other countries on the global stage are, and Ionara Silva
how to negotiate along the lines of the United Nations. At the end Phone: 55 (61) 9815-2087 / 55 (15) 9152-4161
of the meeting a document will be presented as the official position E-mail:ionara@viracao.org
of Major Group for Children and Youth. International Press;
Kiara Worth
Phone: 21-8234-9714
Registration
Email: kiara.youth@gmail.com
To participate in the Youth Blast participants just need to be up to
30 years and do a pre-registration at the event. The participant
must pay their travel expenses, meals and accommodation in Rio News from UN Offices:
de Janeiro.
Further information about the Major Group of Children and
Department of Public Information
Youth: and Office for Disarmament Affairs
http://www.uncsd2012.org/rio20/majorgroups.html
http://uncsdchildrenyouth.org/ The Art for Peace contest winners announced
From 92 Countries, 6,623 works of art projected one singular
SERVICE message: Peace.
Youth Blast – Conference of Youth for Rio+20
The submissions received after watching an age-appropriate
nuclear non-proliferation video and "Imagining a World free of
Accomplishment: Major Group for Children and Youth – UNCSD
Nuclear Weapons" were both inspiring and thought-provoking.
MGCY (United Nations Commission of Sustainable Development
Based on creativity, composition, theme and technique, during
Major Group of Children and Youth) and the National Youth
the course of one month, four winners from each category (ages
Secretariat of the General Secretariat of the Presidency of Brazil.
5-8, ages 9-12 and ages 13-17) were evaluated by an
Support: Brazilian National Youth Council and General
international panel of 140 jurors.
Secretariat of the United Nations.
Dates:
Brazilian days: 7 and 8 June The top four winners from the 5-8 year-old category hailed from
International days: 10 to 12 June Indonesia, China, Russia and Pakistan. From the 9-12 year-old
Location: SulAmerica Convention Centre, Av. Paulo de Frontin, 1 group, artists from Malaysia, USA, Kazakhstan and Germany
- Cidade Nova - Centro - Rio de Janeiro walked away with the top prizes. Each of these artists will be
Official website in Portuguese: gifted with art supplies as their prizes
http://youth-blast.org/
Official website in English: The teenage group received cash prizes, which were doubled
http://uncsdchildrenyouth.org/pages/youthblast.html from the original amounts, thanks to a generous contribution of
Link to pre-register: matching funds from South South News. In the 13-17 year-old
Portugues: category, the fourth prize winner, receiving $200, was given to
http://youth- an artist from El Salvador for a rendition of “Feeding Peace”.
blast.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Ite Third prize, $400, was awarded for a submission from Thailand
mid=7 entitled “Defense Cooperation”. The second prize of $600 was
English: claimed by a Japanese artist for “Nature”. The first prize winner
http://uncsdchildrenyouth.org/pages/youthblast.html from the United States, Haruka Shoji, whose winning picture is
Social Networks: Youth Flash’s cover image this month, received $1,000 for
Facebook Page: “Someday”.
www.un.org/youth 2

3. Youth Flash Newsletter June 2012
All winning artwork will be reproduced in a calendar for the 12 http://www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/en/events/2012/human_rights
outstanding artists to keep as a long-lasting memory of their _shortfilm_competition.html
efforts. Each participating artist may download a Certificate of
Participation from the form on the contest website
http://www.unartforpeace.org/. For everyone, the winning artwork
Food and Agricultural Organization
is available to enjoy though a slideshow presentation at (FAO)
http://www.unartforpeace.org/
FAO 4 new challenge badges
As the proud sponsors of the Art for Peace contest, the Office for
Disarmament Affairs, the Department of Public Information and FAO is pleased to announce the 4 new challenge badges on
the Harmony for Peace Foundation offer a heartfelt thanks to all Energy, Hunger, Nutrition and Water have been developed and
who participated: the artists, promoters, judges and everyone are ready for testing. If your group, school or organization are
interested in peace. YOU are all winners! interested in pilot testing please contact the YUNGA Office
(yunga@fao.org). Find out more about YUNGA at
UN HABITAT www.yunga.org
I'm a City Changer Campaign FAO Sourcebook on development of careers in
agricultural sector
I’m a City Changer Campaign is a global movement to share and
spread individual, corporate and public initiatives that improve our FAO is developing a sourcebook to facilitate and support young
cities.I'm a City Changer is a worldwide campaign with the aim of people wanting to develop careers or businesses in the
sensitizing and creating awareness among citizens on urban issues agricultural sector. If you are a young person involved in
to achieve better cities.It is promoted by UN-Habitat, the city agriculture and have developed innovative practitioners or found
agency of the United Nations, through the World Urban Campaign. solutions to common barriers we would like you to include your
experiences in the sourcebook. Please contact us at
YUNGA@fao.org
Learn more: http://www.imacitychanger.org/imacc/about/
United Nations Information Service News from UN Information
Vienna Centers (UNIC)
Student Short Film Competition on UNIC New Delhi, India
Human Rights 2012
Youth Volunteers build houses for the poor in
The Student Short Film Competition on Human Rights 2012 New Delhi
invites students between the ages of 10 and 20 in Austria and other
countries worldwide to produce short films (max. 3 min) on the Thousands of Asia’s youth were outdoors in a one-day blitz
articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with a build challenge. They were digging, laying bricks, mixing
special focus on sustainability, migration / refugees and global cement, and wielding hammers, all in a massive effort to provide
warming. The United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in shelter to nearly 500 families in India, China, Indonesia, the
Vienna and several other United Nations information offices are Philippines and Thailand.
once again supporting the competition, organised by the Film
Festival on Human Rights “this human world” taking place every The UN Information Centre in New Delhi partnered with
year in Vienna. Apart from Austria, in 2011 the competition was Habitat for Humanity in its Youth BUILD effort. Many people
already successfully launched in Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia. gave up their Saturday morning to help build 41 homes west of
This year, several UN information offices around the world are Delhi for disabled men and women and their families.
planning to organise the Student Short Film Competition in a
number of countries in cooperation with local educational and In line with the Millennium Development Goals, providing these
cultural institutions. Submissions are to be evaluated by a local vulnerable people with shelter, water and sanitation is a first step
jury. towards pulling them out of poverty.
For more information:
www.un.org/youth 3

4. Youth Flash Newsletter June 2012
What better way to celebrate the International Day of Families than The Conference was organized by the UN Association and the
to provide a place for the family to live in dignity. Especially in UN Office in Georgia. Model UN corners were established at all
homes built by youth volunteers! participating university libraries to provide UN related resources
to university students and instigate continued interest in similar
events.
UNIC Baku, Azerbaijan
Azerbaijani students become diplomats for a day UNIC Yerevan, Armenia
On 14 April 2012 at the Fourth Annual Baku Model UN Model UN takes on Iran’s nuclear programme
Conference, articulate youth delegates condemned the global
community’s failure to halt the ever-widening network of human Traditionally, Armenia enjoys close economic and social ties
trafficking. Drawn from 12 Baku-based high schools, the 110 with its neighbor, Iran. Iran's nuclear programme is a
delegates debated passionately before adopting a resolution urging challenging topic for Armenian youth, which is why the students
Member States to intensity efforts to fight human trafficking. The of the Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University chose it as the
student ambassadors represented 90 countries at the GA simulation topic for their first Model UN Conference in May 2012.
session. They discussed issues related to the causes of human
trafficking, including increasing poverty, unemployment and Organized by the UN Office in Yerevan, the Ministry of Foreign
gender inequality. Affairs and the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran to
Armenia, students improved their knowledge of UN values,
The Azerbaijani UN Resident Coordinator, Fikret Akcura, Baku multi-lateral diplomacy and how UN bodies function.
office Head of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in
Europe, Koray Targay, and Officer-in-Charge of the International Prior to the Conference, training sessions were held to further
Organization for Migration office in Baku, Serhan Aktoprak educate the student delegates on the Security Council, including
unanimously commended the students for learning about global its Rules of Procedures. UNO established a Facebook group
problems and cooperating with their peers to strategize solutions. where an impassioned discussion blazed virtually before the
UN DPI Representative, Envera Selimovic, also applauded Baku proceedings.
schools for their enthusiastic support of the Conference.
After hours of heated and challenging debates, a compromise
UNIC Tbilisi, Georgia was found and a final resolution agreed upon. In the end tired
but satisfied students received Certificates from the UNO.
Voices of youth discuss sustainable development
More than 100 students from 10 Georgian universities simulated
Youth in Action
negotiating UN-related topics, such as global energy and
sustainable development, at the National Model United Nations World Youth Foundation
(MUN) Conference in Tbilisi from 18-19 May 2012.
World Youth Foundation is pleased to invite you to participate
The UN Resident Coordinator in Georgia, Jamie McGoldrick, in the “Youth Be Aware” Workshop 2012: Health And
opened the conference with remarks highlighting the need to shift Environment to be held from 26th - 29th November 2012 at
towards a more sustainable world and the importance of Rio+20, Melaka, Malaysia.
which will be convened in Brazil, from 20-22 June. “Georgia is
part of the global dialogue on how to reduce poverty, advance The 4 day Workshop aims to be the first in a bi-annual series of
social equity and ensure environmental protection for the future we workshops to create more awareness on the various current and
want. Greening of development is imperative, but the social and emerging environmental issues affecting the lives of people,
economic strands of sustainable development are equally vital,” he especially youth, and the world we live in. The Workshop will
said. He spoke about the role of youth in achieving the Sustainable seek to educate and empower young people on how to adapt and
Development Goals and how MUN connects the UN and youth. manage the exposure and impacts of climate change,
environmental pollution and the loss of natural resources
For two days, delegates lobbied and debated on how to reset the through capacity building.
global development agenda, reduce poverty, advance social equity
and ensure environmental protection. The Call of Participation, Draft programme, FAQ , Registration
Form can be found at www.wyf.org.my or email WYF at
www.un.org/youth 4

5. Youth Flash Newsletter June 2012
wyf@po.jaring.my / wrldyth@gmail.com for further information.
Publications
UNOSDP
Final report of the inaugural
UNOSDP Youth Leadership Camp
now available
The final report of the inaugural UNOSDP Youth Leadership
Camp, held in Doha, Qatar at the Aspire Dome from 9-19 January
2012, has just been released and is available at
http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/sport/home/unplayers/unoffic
e/YLC. The Camp, based on the vision of the Special Adviser to
the United Nations Secretary General on Sport for Development
and Peace, Mr. Wilfried Lemke, was organized by UNOSDP in
collaboration with Right to Play and Aspire.
The Camp was designed in order to provide theoretical and
practical training to youth participants working on Sport for
Development and Peace projects across Sub-Saharan Africa and
the Palestinian Territories, on how to better use sport to positively
impact their communities. The participants were able to share their
strategies and best practices with other youth, facilitators and
organizers and therefore the event opened an ongoing dialogue and
exchange of ideas between the different actors.
The second Camp will take place in June 2012 in Hennef,
Germany. These camps will now be a starting point for a
programme that will include multiple camps over a multi-year
period with the goal being to successfully impact youth from all
over the world who have a passion for the field of Sport for
Development and Peace and the desire to take their inspiration and
translate it into action.
www.un.org/youth 5