DOHA: Qatar and Denmark, in conjunction with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Office on Youth, organised a special session at the United Nations Headquarters in New York to launch the report of the Compact for Young People in Humanitarian Action under the title “Igniting Hope” which documents some innovative programming that puts the rights and needs of young people in front and centre stage and provides testimony on the ongoing transformation within member organisations of the Compact for Young People in Humanitarian Action.
In a speech at the session, which was organised at the initiative of the Permanent Delegation of Qatar to the United Nations and the Permanent Delegation of Denmark, Executive Director of Reach Out To Asia (ROTA), Essa Al Mannai, said that Qatar strongly believes in the importance of engaging young people in humanitarian work and in their pivotal role in drawing up prospects for their future, QNA reported.
He said that Qatar’s commitment to communicating with young people and enabling them to become agents of positive change is back to the International Summit hosted by the State of Qatar in 2015, which resulted in the Doha declaration on the formation of youth participation in Humanitarian Action, and was adopted by the Istanbul Summit in 2016.
Al Mannai also stressed that addressing the many challenges faced by young people is one of the priorities of Qatar’s national, regional and international policy.
In this context, he referred to the State of Qatar’s participation in sponsoring the first international conference on youth participation in peace operations to be held at the beginning of 2019 in Helsinki.
Executive Director of ROTA, as a member of the Compact for Young People in Humanitarian Action, also reviewed ROTA initiatives launched to enhance the capacities and skills of young people in volunteer humanitarian work in the Middle East and Asia.
