Kigali, 4 June 2022 (TDI): An inspiring session to address online peer-to-peer protection and the well-being of children was conducted at Generation Connect Summit. The objective of the session was to find innovative ways to report violence and educate peers on the children’s children’s digital safety.

Global Youth Sumit mobilizes young digital leaders to shape an inclusive digital future for everyone. Earlier, the United Nations Youth Envoy, Jayathma Wickramanayake, appreciated the massive amount of productive ideas generated at the summit.

While referring to the special session on safety and security on the internet, the panel highlights digital rights and risks associated with the virtual world.

Generation Connect Youth Summit 

Being the first of its kind, Generation Connect Global Youth Summit is providing an opportunity to nearly 500 young people worldwide to address tech for development.

The three-day landmark digital development conference aims to increase youth engagement, consultation, collaboration, and participation in determining policies pertaining to the digital world. International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has organized this conference in Rwanda.

The global digital divide, youth access to online education, digital skills digital gender gap, e-waste management, online safety, digital entrepreneurship, and the role of technology in climate change are some of the key topics of the summit.

One thousand five hundred delegates from over 115 countries, along with 5000 online participants, are attending this conference. The conference aims to bring young leaders, entrepreneurs, engineers, policy specialists, students, academia, and social change makers to advocate digital rights, safety, and security of the telecom sector.

Youth empowerment 
generation connect
There’s no more urgent issue than providing people with the digital skills and tools they need to fully participate in today’s digital economy, Houlin Zhou.

Meanwhile, The ITU Secretary-General, Houlin Zhou, emphasized enhancing collaboration on ICT for inclusive and resilient growth. He stressed building momentum to achieve the shared goal of sustainable development through direct engagement and fostering youth dialogue and participation in decision-making processes.

“The United Nations system needs to become more inclusive as we strive to build a better world for our children to inherit,” added the Chief ITU.

While addressing the young delegates at the Intare Arena, the Prime minister of Rwanda, Dr Édouard Ngirente said that the growth of their economies depends upon equitable access to technology, upskilling, and reskilling our population. In addition, he appreciated such global events which require global cooperation.

Call to Action

The participants will share the negative and positive consequences of technology in their lives and give certain suggestions to improve.

Furthermore, the recommendations gathered at the end of the summit will culminate with a consensus-based call to Action on reshaping “our digital future”. Also, it will enhance the chances of cooperation among youth in government digital strategies and the wider UN system.

The Youth envoys will present the Call to Action to leaders and decision-makers at WTDC – the leading development-oriented conference held every four years by ITU. The youth strategy of  ITU is aligned with the objectives of the UN Youth Strategy: Youth 2030.

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