Its been almost half a decade since the United Nations World Youth Assembly for Road Safety took place at the United Nations building, Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland! As many of you know, the World Youth Assembly (WYA) was the foundation stone in the building of YOURS – Youth for Road Safety; a tangible road safety NGO that harnessed the energy of the assembly into a real movement for young people and road safety. YOURS celebrates the assembly’s five year anniversary in the months to come!
Half a decade may sound like a long time and for many of the young people involved in the United Nations World Youth Assembly back in 2007, they gasp in disbelief that so much time has elapsed since this momentous event.
Young people froma round the world came together to discuss road safety.
On 23-24 April 2007, the United Nations opened their doors and welcomed nearly 400 young people from over 100 nations to sit on the benches graced by world leaders to discuss global road safety in our changing world. The United Nations World Youth Assembly for Road Safety, a one of its kind event, was organized by The World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) along with an international working group (referred to as Chairs of the Assembly). It brought together socially active young people via the support of national Ministries of Transport and International Organizations.
Many young people attended the assembly with little to no knowledge about the global road safety problem and were shocked and moved to bear witness to the facts and figures about the number of young people being killed on the worlds’ roads. After two days of intense debates, training and understanding the global road safety problem facing young people around the world, the young people left the assembly feeling energized and geared for action in their nations.
1,049 balloons release signifies that the 1,049 young lives lost on the world’s roads are not in vain.
The energy generated at the forum created a strong momentum for the youth and road safety movement around the world. The young people not only learned that they and their peers face a higher risk on the road because of their behaviour but also that these crashes and deaths were preventable. The delegates at the assembly heard presentations from world leaders, health professionals and also victims of road crashes. A poignant moment at the assembly was the releasing of 1,049 balloons to mark the amount of young people aged 11-25 killed on the world’s roads every day.
One of the most significant milestones for youth and road safety came in the form of the World Youth Declaration for Road Safety, a delcaration adopted by the youth of the world to call for the involvement of young people in road safety nationally, regionally and internationally; to put youth and road safety issues on the agenda and to reduce the amount of young people being killed on the road. They left the assembly as official United Nations World Youth Ambassadors for Road Safety to make change in their nations and save millions of young lives around the world.
The establishment of YOURS was a culmination of the efforts and energy demonstrated at and after the World Youth Assmebly leading to the international non-governmental organization that we know today.
As a special feature, YOURS will be using the following months up until the 23 April 2012 to showcase what the United Nations World Youth Ambassadors are doing now;
YOURS will run special features on the United Nations World Youth Ambassadors for Road Safety until April’s anniversary day.
Many of the youth ambassadors from the Assembly are now directors of their own road safety organizations, run road safety projects or still work with young people because of their involvement with the WYA. Many of the member of our active International Youth Network for Road Safety were delegates to the WYA. In the coming months, YOURS will be contacting the ambassadors for dedicated interviews on what they are doing now for road safety!
Stay tuned for special the special features!