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Peace Boat US Intern Team and staff left to right: Weija Shi (China), Bromina Rani (USA), Camilla Linderoth (Sweden), Hanka Gojacic ( Bosnia and Herzegowina), Hilda Bonilla ( El Salvador), Ornella Corsant-Colat (France), Rose Welsch (USA)

Since the year 2000, every August 12th,  the United Nations’ International Youth Day celebrates the achievements of the world’s youth and encourages them to participate in enhancing society. Young people are an increasingly large part of the global population, and for the international community to achieve sustainable human development, engaging energetic, idea-filled young people is crucial.

 

The Peace Boat US team of interns is looking forward to celebrating the International Youth Day on August 12  2015,  co-organized by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United nations Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development (IANYD) under the theme “Youth Civic Engagement.”  img_4118In the lead up to this special day to empower youth, we are inviting everyone to be a part of the celebration by simply joining the online campaign on International Youth Day. The campaign opens up a space for young people to share their stories, ideas and events on civic engagement activities. Young people were asked to share their message by submitting a photograph that relates to the theme, by tweeting ideas and opinions on the theme using #YouthDay, or by organizing an International Youth Day Event. The engagement and participation of youth is essential to achieve sustainable human development. Yet often the opportunities for youth to engage politically, economically and socially are few or non-existent. There has been a recent increase of attention on policy and programming  that focuses on youth civic engagement by governments, UN entities, regional and multilateral organizations, CSOs, youth and researchers.

Peace Boat US strongly supports youth civic engagement and has been involved in youth participation through various educational programs both onboard the Peace Boat and in the ports of call by engaging a team of young volunteers and interns on the topics of peace building, creating a nuclear free world, human rights and sustainable development.

img_1477Meet our young volunteer Bromina Rani who has been attending UN events and participating in various campaigns and programs held by the Peace Boat US.