“I am glad to have this chance to talk with you, to discuss the most important and most pressing issue which will increasingly feature in your lives and coming generations,” Ban told a group of youth delegates attending UN climate change negotiations in Bonn, Germany, in a videoconference.

“Climate change is a threat to development, the stability of countries and economies, and the health of the planet. Extreme weather is costing trillions of dollars and endangering lives and livelihoods all around the world.”

Ban told the delegates that youth would play a key role in his Climate Change Leaders’ Summit in New York in September 2014, to catalyze ambitious action on the ground, to reduce emissions and to strengthen climate resilience.

“When I say “leaders”, I’m talking about Government leaders,” Ban said. “But I’m also talking about leaders from business, finance and civil society, including youth. It is imperative that the powers of all change-agents be harnessed to tackle climate change- no one group can do it alone.”

“Use your power as voters and consumers,” Ban said, encouraging youth to get involved by reminding their political leaders of their moral responsibility to them and future generations and by adopting measures that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen resilience to climate shocks.

Ban, who was joined in the discussion by his Envoy on Youth, Ahmad Alhendawi, also heard messages from young people submitted for him via the online platforms of Twitter and Facebook.

Asked where he envisioned youth playing the biggest role in building the momentum needed to tackle climate change, Ban told the youth leaders that it was up to all youth to challenge their peers, leaders, prime ministers, mayors, congress people, senators, and professors to take action.

“You are in the middle of a great transition era. To address climate change, we need fresh and innovative ideas.” Too often, he said, adults work to preserve business as usual and the status quo. “Young people approach problems with new ideas and a new perspective.”

Ban added that he would continue to press for action on climate change until the end of his term, at which point he would “pass the torch to you. That’s your job.”

“Are you ready to take up the challenge?” Ban asked the youth representatives at the end of the discussion. The delegates responded with an enthusiastic wave of hands.

The youth delegates are part of a group known as YOUNGO in the climate negotiations, or youth non-governmental organizations. Liam Upson of the United Kingdom Youth Climate Coalition moderated the discussion and said the group has been speaking for young people around the world since the round of climate talks in Copenhagen and ensures that “the voices of current and future generations are heard.”

Global Employment Trends for Youth 2013: A generation at risk attributes that high number to persistent unemployment, a proliferation of temporary jobs and growing youth discouragement in advanced economies; and poor quality, informal, subsistence jobs in developing countries.

The report, published by the International Labour Organization (ILO), states that the weakening of the global recovery in 2012 and 2013 has further aggravated the youth jobs crisis and the queues for available jobs have become longer and longer for some unfortunate young jobseekers.

“So long, in fact, that many youth are giving up on the job search. The prolonged jobs crisis also forces the current generation of youth to be less selective about the type of job they are prepared to accept, a tendency that was already evident before the crisis.”

It adds that increasing numbers of youth are now turning to available part-time jobs or find themselves stuck in temporary employment. Secure jobs, which were once the norm for previous generations – at least in the advanced economies – have become less easily accessible for today’s youth.

The global youth unemployment rate, which had decreased from 12.7 per cent in 2009 to 12.3 per cent in 2011, increased again to 12.4 per cent in 2012, and has continued to grow to 12.6 per cent in 2013.

Youth unemployment and its scarring effects are particularly prevalent in three regions: developed economies and European Union, the Middle East and North Africa. In these regions, youth unemployment rates have continued to “soar” since 2008, says the report.

By 2018 the global youth unemployment rate is projected to rise to 12.8 per cent, with growing regional disparities, as expected improvements in advanced economies will be offset by increases in youth unemployment in other regions, mainly in Asia.

“We have never before seen a crisis like the one facing young people today and it’s a crisis that requires everyone to act together,” says Gianni Rosas, coordinator of the ILO Youth Employment Programme and co-author of the report.

“That means Governments together with the social partners have to address the crisis now through strategies that focus on growth and jobs, and through policies and programmes that prioritize young people.”

Mr. Rosas says that a global framework, adopted by representatives of Governments, employers and workers organizations calls for action in five main policy areas: employment creation, education and training, targeting the disadvantaged, entrepreneurship and labour rights.

The best employment programmes, he adds, combine education and training with work-experience and job-placement support. They include incentives for employers to hire disadvantaged youth, such as wage subsidies, tax cuts or social security exemptions for a limited period.

“The current young generation is worse off than we were 20 years ago and we need to urgently expand action to address the current youth employment crisis,” he states. “We must keep the objective of improving the economic and social situation from one generation to another as it has been in the past. We cannot afford to go backward.”

A ground-breaking initiative of ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller, the leading public relations consultancy in MENA, the Arab Youth Survey is aimed at providing reliable data and insights into the attitudes and aspirations of the region’s 200 million-strong youth population, informing policy- and decision-making of both government and the private sector.

ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller selected international polling firm Penn Schoen Berland (PSB) to complete 3,000 face-to-face interviews with exclusively Arab national men and women aged 18-24 in the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain), Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Tunisia, and in three new countries added this year: Morocco, Algeria and Yemen. The survey was conducted between December 2012 and January 2013.

The survey finds that in the wake of the Arab Spring, regional youth are prouder than ever of their national identity – and they increasingly embrace modern values and beliefs. Nearly nine out of 10 young Arabs (87%) feel “more proud to be an Arab” following the uprisings, and 59% believe recent changes in their country will have a positive impact on them and their family. Two-thirds (67%) feel “better off” following the events of the Arab Spring and 45% believe their national government has become more transparent.

Also, in each of the 15 countries surveyed, a clear majority are optimistic about the future, with a nearly equal percentage of youth in the Gulf and non-Gulf states (76% and 72%, respectively) saying “our best days are ahead of us”. Likewise, more than half (58%) believe their country is “heading in the right direction” considering the last 12 months, while 55% say their national economy is also heading in the right direction.

For the second consecutive year, “being paid a fair wage” is the highest priority of Middle East youth, cited by 82% of all those surveyed. The importance of fair pay is followed by home ownership, with 66% of Arab youth describing “owning their own home” as “very important”. Tellingly, nearly a fifth (15%) of young Arabs believe they will never be able to afford their own home.

Rising living costs remain the number one concern of Arab youth, also for the second straight year in the annual study, with 62% saying they are “very concerned” about the issue. According to the latest findings, the rising cost of living is a bigger worry than “the economy”, “the threat of terrorism”, “events of the Arab Spring” and “unemployment”.

“Civil unrest” and “lack of democracy” are identified as the main obstacles in the way of the MENA region’s development, while “lack of Arab unity”, the “Palestinian-Israeli conflict” and “lack of political direction” are other barriers. GCC and non-GCC youth are equally concerned about civil unrest, with 44% in both sets of countries highlighting the issue as the Arab World’s biggest obstacle.

Meanwhile, the UAE continues to be regarded as a model nation. Asked to name the country, anywhere in the world, where they would most like to live, Arab youth, as they did in 2012, cite the UAE as their preference. The UAE is the top choice of 31% of Arab youth across the 15 countries surveyed, followed by France (18%), the United States and Turkey (16%).

Sunil John, Chief Executive Officer of ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller, said: “Every year ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller conducts the Arab Youth Survey because we understand the importance of providing reliable data here in the Middle East, where research into public opinion is often limited. This substantial investment in thought leadership demonstrates our firm belief in the principle of evidence-based communications.

In his opening statement, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon encouraged participants to be “global citizens” and to help the Organizations rise to the challenges such as insecurity, climate change and unemployment by finding their own mission in life.

“Be part of creating a new vision. It is not only about telling us what kind of world you want. It is about partnering with us to realize a better future,” he told participants at the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum in New York.

The forum’s theme focuses on leveraging science, technology, innovation and culture to improve societies. Participants are ‘tomorrow’s innovators’, including youth representatives from Member States, students and young entrepreneurs with science and technology backgrounds and youth-led non-governmental organizations.

Ban noted that working with youth is one of his top priorities because “young leaders have the energy and ideas we need to change our world.”

He stressed the essential role of education, adding a personal note about the power of education as he was growing up in the Republic of Korea.

“When we give children and youth the education they deserve, they will help transform the world,” he said. He also noted his new initiative, Education First, a $1.5 billion initiative to achieve universal education.

Also speaking at the opening of the forum, ECOSOC President Néstor Osorio reiterated the need to overcome obstacles on education and employment, particularly among women and girls.

Young people are three times more likely to be unemployed than adults and more than 75 million youth worldwide are looking for work, according to the UN International Labour Organization (ILO). In Europe and the Middle East, more than half of 15 to 24 year olds are without jobs.

Osorio noted the new opportunities for young entrepreneurs through start-up companies in arts, technology and advertising businesses.

Social networking sites, he noted, played an important role in promoting the so-called Arab Spring by “giving the youth a voice and making them an important player in the transformation of the region.” In addition, mobile phones are pushing development by allowing users to browse the Internet and transfer money wirelessly.

“Young people need economic opportunity. Young people want the full enjoyment of their political and civil rights and freedoms. Speaking their minds; participating in politics; practicing the religion of their choice; and living their lives without any form of discrimination are some of their legitimate aspirations,” Mr. Osorio said.

“Meaningful participation, openness, inclusion and accountability can be improved by using technology, science, and culture. They all can serve as a vital engine for positive change,” he added.

Among the youth addressing participants was 15-year-old World Food Programme Youth Representative Adora Svitak, who encouraged young people to change history with their tremendous audacity and imagination.

Some people think kids and power is a dangerous combination, Ms. Svitak said, “but the only danger is transformational change.”

She said young people are instrumental in supporting and encouraging their peers, and creating change online by toppling regimes and shifting attitudes.

Also, the Secretary-General’s Envoy for Youth, Ahmad Alhendawi, said that engaging young people in addressing global challenges is important because they are at the very fore in both using and developing tools in the field of science, technology and innovation.

“Young people are engines of growth and human development,” he said in a statement.

In a plan for change outlined by Ban, the Youth Envoy’s role encompassed four principles: participation, advocacy, partnerships and harmonization.

Fully endorsing the plan, Mr. Ban encouraged young people to communicate with the UN through the meeting places and cyberspace, such as by following the UN on Twitter (@UN) and to tweet the Envoy directly at @AhmadAlhendawi.

Meanwhile, ECOSOC is today launching a major online campaign, ‘Innovate Your Future.’ The online forum allows youth between the ages of 15 and 40 to write in their ideas and thoughts on how science, technology, innovation and culture can help shape a sustainable world.

For example, one person suggests “to come up with a solar-powered irrigation system” while another advocates “designing homes that consume less power.”

The concerns and recommendations brought forward on the site, along with the ideas from today’s forum, will be presented at the ECOSOC High-level Segment in Geneva this July for ministers from Member States.

According to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNWRA), Mohammad Al-Khateeb,14, was killed by a bullet as he was returning home on foot after buying bread from a bakery in his neighbourhood in Dera’a on 14 March.

On Tuesday, Hisham Mahmoud, 10, and Farhat Mubarak, 11, were killed at the crossroad of Yazour and Safad Streets in Yarmouk, Damascus. They were returning home from classes at a community-run learning centre when an explosive shell detonated nearby, killing them instantly.

In a separate incident on the same day, two brothers, Ali Mijel and Abdullah Mijel were killed along with their aunt and cousin when an explosive shell hit their home on Hittin Street in Sbeineh Camp. They were 14 and 15, respectively.

“The death of these children occurred in the context of escalating armed violence throughout Syria, including in Palestinian camps and residential areas,” UNRWA said in a news release.

“The tragic deaths illustrate the devastating effect of the conflict on children, both Syrian and Palestinian. On a daily basis, many people, including children, are killed, maimed, displaced and deeply traumatized as a result of the unrestrained conduct of armed conflict in urban areas. The conflict-related deaths of parents have left many children without the support and nurturing essential for their normal development.”

UNRWA reiterated its call for all parties to the conflict in Syria to comply with international humanitarian law, to respect the neutrality of Palestinians and Palestinian camps, and to desist from conducting military operations in civilian areas.

More than 70,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed and more than three million displaced since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011. Some 500,000 of those internally displaced are Palestinian refugees.

In its annual Global Employment Trends report, released yesterday, the International Labour Organization (ILO) notes that despite the positive trend of falling unemployment over the past two years, the number of unemployed worldwide rose by 4.2 million in 2012 with gloomy expectations of a further increase in 2013.

“An uncertain economic outlook, and the inadequacy of policy to counter this, has weakened aggregate demand, holding back investment and hiring,” Guy Ryder, the ILO Director-General, announced in a news release accompanying the report.

“This has prolonged the labour market slump in many countries, lowering job creation and increasing unemployment duration even in some countries that previously had low unemployment and dynamic labour markets,” he added.

In particular, the report singles out the impact of the global unemployment crisis – already afflicting over 197 million people worldwide – on the world’s youth, who risk losing vital professional and social skills as the length of their joblessness continues to grow. “Many of the new jobs require skills that jobseekers do not have,” Ryder confirmed.

According to the ILO, some 35 per cent of unemployed youth in advanced economies have been out of a job for six months or longer – an absence which directly impacts their long-term career prospects as their skills deteriorate. Others, meanwhile, get discouraged and leave the labour market altogether.

With almost 74 million people in the 15 to 24 age group unemployed around the world, translating into a 12.4 per cent unemployment rate for this subset, job prospects for the world’s younger workers are looking increasingly bleak, says the report.

The UN official pointed out that regional differences in youth unemployment were likely to be marked, with the situation expected to improve slightly over the next five years in the developed economies while emerging economies in Eastern Europe, East and South-East Asia and the Middle East would continue to see rising joblessness among its young labour force.

He added, however, that it was incumbent on international policy-makers to find a coordinated response to reversing the problem and urged governments to establish coordinated retraining activities to help young people bridge the skills gap caused by extended bouts of joblessness.

“The global nature of the crisis means countries cannot resolve its impact individually and with domestic measures only,” declared the ILO Director-General.

The report specifically calls on policy-makers to engage in three areas crucial to employment generation, including injections of public investment into job-creating initiatives while private funding remains shy; addressing rising labour market mismatch problems through retraining and re-skilling programmes; and focusing action on youth joblessness.

“The high uncertainty, which is holding off investments and job creation, will not recede if countries come up with conflicting solutions,” cautioned Ryder. “The costs of inactivity, of allowing long-term unemployment to grow and young people to disconnect further from society, would be far higher.”

This year’s International Literacy Day, observed annually on 8 September, hard a special focus on the fundamental relationship between literacy and peace.

“We must not allow conflict to deprive children and adults of the crucial opportunity of literacy. Literacy is a fundamental human right, and the foundation of all education and lifelong learning,” the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, said in her message for the Day, which the agency has been marking for more than four decades.

She added that literacy transforms the lives of people, allowing them to make informed choices and empowering them individuals to become agents of change.

“Lasting peace depends on the development of literate citizenship and access to education for all. Amidst political upheaval and escalating violence in many parts of the world, literacy must be a priority in the peace-building agenda of all nations,” she stated. Peace and sustainable development are interdependent, and it is crucial for the two to develop and strengthen simultaneously, Bokova continued.

“Literacy is also a development accelerator, enabling societies to grow more inclusively and sustainably,” she noted. “Literacy programmes can become a key component of future development strategies, opening new opportunities and skills for all.”

This year marked the end of the UN Literacy Decade, proclaimed in 2002 to galvanize government action worldwide against illiteracy. Over the decade, and despite considerable effort and some major achievements, 775 million people are still considered non-literate, of whom 85 per cent live in 41 countries.

As part of the celebrations for the Day, UNESCO has brought together representatives from these 41 countries to examine the lessons learned over the decade and identify ways of accelerating progress to meet the Education for All (EFA) goals established by the world’s governments in 2000 for a 50 per cent improvement in literacy levels worldwide by 2015.

The EFA goals are made up expanding early childhood care and education, providing free and compulsory primary education for all, promoting learning and life skills for young people and adults, increasing adult literacy, achieving gender parity and improving the quality of education.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in his message for the Day, said the global movement for education needs a big push, and that is why he will be launching a new Education First initiative later this month.

The initiative focuses on three priorities: putting every child in school, improving the quality of learning and fostering global citizenship.

“I call on world leaders and all involved with education to join this initiative. The cost of leaving millions of children and young people on the margins of society is far greater than the funds required to reach the international goals for education,” he stated.

“Ask any parent what they want for their children, even in war zones and disaster areas where food, medicine and shelter might be considered the highest priorities, and the answer is the same: education for children. Ask any child what he or she wishes to be when they grow up, and the answer is rooted in education. Education is the gateway to fulfilling those aspirations.

“A literate world is a more peaceful world, and a more harmonious and healthy world,” Mr. Ban added. “On this observance of International Literacy Day, let us pledge to join together to move the literacy agenda forward.”

Other events taking place at UNESCO’s Paris headquarters include the award ceremony for the 2012 UNESCO literacy prizes, and the nomination of singer and songwriter A’salfo as a Goodwill Ambassador to contribute to the agency’s efforts to fight against exclusion, discrimination and injustice.

Ihab Abu Nada, a 20-year-old Gazan, died from his injuries after setting himself on fire in a public place on Sunday. According to media reports citing his family, Abu Nada had been frustrated at being unable to find a job, and decided to take his life to protest the conditions in Gaza.

“The situation of workers in Gaza is one of the worst in the region and the world,” said the UN International Labour Organization’s Regional Director for the Arab States, Nada al-Nashif, in a news release.

“Gaza’s growing youth population has a right to better work opportunities and growth with equity,” she added. “They need decent jobs, a minimum of social protection and respect for their basic rights to ensure a life of dignity.”

In a report issued in June this year, ILO warned that the unemployment rate among Palestinians – at 21 per cent – and rising frustration at the stalled Middle East peace process could fuel more desperate measures.

It indicated that future employment is clearly one of the biggest concerns facing Palestinian youth. In 2011, more than 53 per cent of young women and 32.2 per cent of young men aged 15 to 24 were unemployed, with a total of 222,000 jobless people in the occupied Palestinian territory. More than 70 per cent of the population there is under the age of 30.

In Gaza, the unemployment rate is three times the regional average. More than 80 per cent of Gaza’s 1.6 million residents are dependent on international aid, and over 40 per cent live in conditions of poverty.

According to ILO, Mr. Abu Nada had dropped out of school last year to help his father, a civil servant, provide for their family of eight. He found temporary informal work, washing dishes or peddling packets of potato chips in the street.

“Many unskilled young people, like Abu Nada, rely on temporary informal jobs when they can find them. Those who do have university degrees often cannot find jobs that match their skills, forcing many to emigrate,” ILO noted in a news release.

The ILO report in June also called for urgent attention in the form of assistance for vocational training, business development and employment directed at young men and women.

Carlos Cisneros, from the International Vanguard Network of Ecuador, welcomed the initiative saying that while youth employment is regularly discussed at the international level, young people are seldom involved in those discussions.

Young people are three times more likely than adults to be jobless. Youth unemployment rates are at peak crisis levels and are not expected to drop in the next four years. “We need action. We need job opportunities for young people”, said Suheir Tabanja, from the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) at the Forum.

In 2011, more than half of young women and one third of young men aged 15 to 24 were unemployed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, according to an ILO report to the June 2012 session of the International Labour Conference (www.ilo.org/ilc).

Over 100 young men and women are taking part in the Youth Employment Forum, sharing their experiences. These are some of their voices:

Keselyn Lizama (Belize), of the World Scout Organization:  “This Forum is good because it involves all levels of employment – you have the employers, you have the workers and you have the organizations that work for both employers and for the workers. This gives us a better understanding of how you can change employment trends, and how this can help us move forward and can improve our economy. It’s good to learn how other countries are dealing with some of the same problems we have in Belize, like youth not being able to matriculate based on finances or graduating from university, getting a masters, and still not being able to get a job.”

Ada Luz Lopez Jimenez (Honduras), works for a youth programme: “People from all over are sharing examples of good practices, how to reach the communities, organizations involved with the youth are sharing their experiences. We now want to see how we can implement some of these ideas, set up a methodology to support the youth and ensure these policies reach local governments.”

Mutaba Ngoma (Zambia), bio-diesel company owner: “I just want to learn how to provide better employment for my workers and staff. Also, as a representative of the Alliance for Youth Entrepreneurs in Zambia, I was interested in learning about practices that can help us train entrepreneurs to provide better employment opportunities.”

Joana Bernice Coronacion (Philippines), unionist with the Alliance for Progressive Labour: “This is an opportunity that will bring concrete solutions to address the issue of unemployment. This Forum addresses issues that different countries face with regards to employment, like precarious work which puts the future of young people at risk, the future of a generation we call the hope of the nation. The economy is not producing enough jobs for the people entering the labour force and the most affected are the young people. And, there are also other issues, such as underemployment and skills mismatch.”

The Skills Strategy, to be discussed by Ministers at the OECD Ministerial Meeting in Paris this week, acknowledges that with public finances under pressure, governments have tough budgetary decisions to make. But spending on education and skills is an investment for the future and must be a priority.

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría, said: “Skills have become the global currency of 21st Century economies. They transform lives and drive economies. Governments must invest more effectively in the education and skills that people will need in tomorrow’s workplace. They need to deploy their talent pool more strategically so that these investments translate into better jobs and better lives. Achieving this is everyone’s business, and employers and unions have a central role to play.”

Today, one in five young people leave school in OECD countries without completing upper secondary education. And in many countries, a third of adults lack the minimum core skills needed to engage in further learning and get a good job.

The social and economic costs are huge: OECD analysis shows that people with poor skills are at much greater risk of unemployment, poverty and reliance on social benefits.

The Strategy tailors recommendations to particular needs in individual countries. In the short-run, the focus in most countries should be on helping youth acquire the skills required by the labour market.

The economic crisis has hit the young and low-skilled particularly hard. The youth joblessness rate is in double digit rates in most OECD countries and two to three times that of adults.

Despite today’s high unemployment rate, a lack of skilled workers means many vacancies remain unfilled. Even at the height of the crisis, more than 40% of employers in Australia, Japan, Mexico and The United States said they couldn’t find people with the right skills.

The OECD Skills Strategy provides a framework for countries to analyse their strengths and weaknesses and recommends ways they can develop the skills of their young people and adults.

Among its recommendations are that countries should:

- improve the quality of learning outcomes by putting the premium on skills-oriented learning instead of qualifications-focused education upfront;

- involve employers and trade unions more closely in designing and delivering education and training programmes;

- encourage adults to invest in further learning, especially in small and medium-sized firms. A levy on firms to increase their contribution to staff training that targets particular sectors or regions should be considered;

- facilitate the internal and cross-border mobility of skilled workers;

- calibrate tax and benefit systems to make work pay;

- help employers make more effective use of their employee’s skills;

- help local economies to move up the value-added chain, foster entrepreneurship and stimulate the creation of more high-skilled jobs.

To help countries get a clearer picture of their workforce’s skills and see how they compare to other countries, the OECD is carrying out the most comprehensive international survey of adult skills ever conducted. The first OECD Survey of Adult Skills will test the skills of more than five thousand people aged 16 to 65 in each of the 26 countries taking part. The first results will be published in October 2013 in an OECD Skills Outlook.