I can't believe that just one year ago Rio+20 was over. The 2 years proceeding it had been a whirl of preparations, negotiations, meeting new people and trying to build capacity. It has been tough to keep caring, keep engaged and not give up. Frequently we went without sleep, skipped family mile stones, missed out on real life stuff and we were so lucky at times not to get fired from our day jobs.
Today is one year since that. One year ago we read our final statement. I can still remember the final minutes as I left Rio centro to the background of colleagues (children and youth) frantically trying to squeeze the last few minutes of media attention. I remember feeling slightly detached. Yes, we had achieved a lot but the real battle had not even happened yet. The real battle was trying to get anything implemented.
A week ago, I did a google hangout on the anniversary of Rio+20. It focused on the successes since Rio+20. But what has been achieved? The youth / child movement has gotten weaker and more fragmented. Post 2015 coalition children and youth working group (led by a ngo that is not child or youth led) actually charge its members over 1000 euro to join and constantly tries to undermine the Major Group of Children and Youth. Some member states are trying to actually get rid of the Major Group structure which would live women, children and indigenous peoples most vulnerable. But no one wants to hear the negatives.
This googlehangout focused on how to engage more young people. Let me know what you think?
No comments:
Post a Comment