First person: Felipe Paullier, the youngest-ever senior UN official, charged with giving a voice to young people around the world

“When you study history in high school, you learn about the origins of the United Nations, and it was always the organization I was associated with, in terms of the values ​​it promotes. However, I never thought I would play a direct role in the organization.

During my time with the Uruguayan government, I had extensive contact with the United Nations system in the country, including agencies such as the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), UN children’s organization (UNICEF), and UN 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. Through these lines of cooperation, I began to understand how the United Nations works.

I was still studying for a master’s degree in administration at the University of Florida when I led the first UN Office for Youth. My goal was to help the organization maintain the best possible connection with young people, not only by listening to them, but also involving them in collaboration and participation. Eight months later I received a call from the Amin Mohammedthe UN Deputy Secretary General, who told me I had been selected for the role and would start in fifteen days!

The first year focused on understanding the challenges, building the team, identifying how to add value to the work of youth organizations and states, and positioning the office as a space to raise awareness on various issues. I believe that the purpose of the Youth Affairs Office is to work together, disseminate information and raise awareness of the interests and concerns of all young people around the world.

The three youth agendas of the UN Office for Youth

Talking about the youth agenda means understanding and supporting a very large movement that we approach from three central dimensions.

The first is the participation agenda. There is an urgent need to take new generations into account in decision-making. We join several efforts underway to connect civil society with the United Nations, creating innovative scenarios where young people feel represented, part of the spaces of power, and where 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 taking the lead in advancing the peace agenda and demanding that governments end wars.

The third theme that stands out among the priorities is mental health and wellbeing. Millions of young people around the world are facing a silent crisis that affects all dimensions of their lives: hopelessness about the future; a digital culture characterized by hate speech; lack of opportunities in education, employment and housing; the climate crisis; and the lack of spaces for care and connection. All this causes anxiety, depression and, in the most severe cases, loss of meaning and suicide.

That’s why we’re promoting a Global Youth Mental Health and Well-being 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 active in this field, such as the World Health Organization (WHO).WHO), UNICEF and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). At the same time, it promotes political advocacy so that many more states recognize youth mental health care as a priority and develop policies that respond to this urgent need.

Mental health in the age of social media

The focus is on how we deal with technology in a rapidly changing world. What can we do in a world where we are more connected than ever, but at the same time much more isolated? That is the division we experience in this age. Social media poses a huge challenge because it ultimately creates 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 when spreading aggressive messages. Hence the need for more meeting spaces to encourage dialogue between people, because in these digital spaces there is no dialogue; there are only points of view and people don’t listen to each other; they confront each other.

When we seek answers, we will surely find them by returning to the Charter of the United Nations, which outlines the essence of the organization: dialogue, the celebration of diversity and international cooperation. Young people are already doing their part. Small individual changes, added up, are the driving force behind the global agenda.”