The 2nd World Youth Assembly for Road Safety was selected as an official pre-event of the 3rd Ministerial Conference on Road Safety. The Ministerial Conference gathered 1,700 delegates from 140 countries, including Ministers, CEO’s and Head of Delegations.
This was an important event, where all young delegates had the opportunity to discuss the future of road safety in their countries with key decision-makers. Beside the participation of 150+ young leaders in the actual event, we were invited to participate in various high level sessions that were part of the programme.
Opening Ceremony
Omnia El Omrani (Egypt), co-chair of the 2nd World Youth Assembly for Road Safety and member of the Global Youth Taskforce, was invited to address a key message to all decision-makers, presenting the highlights of the Global Youth Statement for Road Safety. Omnia shared a powerful speech by saying : “We are tired of false commitments from the decision makers” and stress the fact that youth are saying “enough is enough”.
Read Omnia's Opening Ceremony Speech
Special Envoy’s Ministerial Lunch
Four young leaders were invited to participate at the Special Envoy’s Ministerial Lunch.
Thiago Gruner (Brasil), Co-Chair of the 2nd World Youth Assembly for Road Safety and part of the Global Youth Taskforce shared a strong message to Ministers, focused on requesting the support to youth to achieve the Youth Statements’ commitments and share the document with decision-makers, so they can include it into their agendas.
Read Thiago's speech to the Special Envoy Lunch
Commonwealth Road Safety Initiative Lunch
Six young leaders from different Commonwealth countries were invited to participate in this lunch session, in the presence of His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent, where they shared the Global Youth Statement with ministers. In addition, Manpreet Darroch, Head of Communications at YOURS, delivered a speech focusing on the importance of road safety, considering that Commonwealth countries have on average a population that is 60% under the age of 30. There was a call-to-action to enact more robust measures targeting youth and partner with them to combat the road safety crisis.
Read Manpreet's Speech to the Commonwealth Ministers
Parallel Session
Olivia Nalwadda (Uganda), member of the Youth Taskforce, was invited to be part of the panelists for the parallel session on “Children and Adolescent Health”. She expressed the importance of engagement of young people as key drivers for change in the realm of road safety. In addition, she encouraged that all key actors on adolescent health come together and map out ways on how road safety can be prioritized in the agenda.
Closing Ceremony
Raquel Barrios (Nicaragua), Project Manager of the 2nd World Youth Assembly, shared the main outcomes of the Assembly and invited all the leaders from different sectors to commit to act and to support youth by picking the right lane in the decision making process.
Read Raquel's Closing Ceremony Speech