The Young Activists Summit will honour five outstanding young people who have inspired and mobilised their communities to create meaningful change on November 19, 2024.
Taking place at the Palais des Nations, headquarters of the United Nations Office at Geneva (Switzerland), the event will be webcast live and is open to the media.
Now in its sixth edition, the Young Activists Summit (#YAS24) will showcase five inspiring individuals, aged between 19 and 29, whose impactful actions are shaping communities around the globe.
Drawing from the African proverb, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together”, this year’s edition, carrying the theme “Go Far, Go Together”, celebrates the power of collective action.
The stories of the five Laureates show how collective action by groups or movements can successfully protect the environment and defend human rights.
Marley Dias, 19, USA, Black representation in the media: Marley launched the #1000BlackGirlBooks campaign when she was 10, to protest against the lack of black representation in the books she read as a child. Her story went viral and was picked up by media around the world.
Bloggers, schools, youth organizations and countless people have helped Marley collect over 15,000 books to date, donating them to libraries, schools and people in need.
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Marley also wrote “Marley Dias Gets It Done: And So Can You!” and launched Green Ribbon Week to highlight the need for mental health resources for teenagers. In 2020, Marley produced and hosted her show “Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices” on Netflix, with celebrities reading books featuring black characters and authors. Marley has been invited to the White House on several occasions.
Sohanur Rahman, 27, Bangladesh, Democracy & Climate action: After surviving super-cyclone Sidr as a child, Sohanur recognized the extreme vulnerability of communities to climate-induced disasters, which hit Bangladesh especially hard.
This led him to become a key figure in the country’s fight against climate change. In 2016, he founded YouthNet for Climate Justice, to raise awareness of climate issues among younger generations. In 2019, a campaign led by YouthNet led the Parliament of Bangladesh to declare the climate crisis a planetary emergency. YouthNet also helped halt the construction of ten coal plants.
Recently, Sohanur and his group played a key role in peaceful student protests advocating for greater democracy in Bangladesh.
This uprising ultimately led to the ousting of the country’s Prime Minister, who had been in power for the past 15 years.
Today, Sohanur continues to push for climate action to be prioritized on the interim government’s agenda.
Shanley McLaren, 25, France, Online gender-based violence: At a time when more and more intimate content or pornographic deepfakes are posted without the consent of those who are in those pictures, Shanley launched Stop Fisha to protect victims of cybersexism.
Stop Fisha has now become a “trusted flagger”, enabling the organization to report non-consensual content to social media platforms more easily, so that the content is taken down and the accounts shut down faster. Stop Fisha also offers psychological support and legal advice to victims, in collaboration with like-minded organizations based in other countries.
The organization has also allowed new laws to be passed in France, to prevent online gender-based online violence, sextortion, deepfake pornography, and more.
Alvaro Quiroz, 25, Mexico, Helping the homeless: Alvaro found himself on the streets during his teenage years, when he fled his hometown to escape from an environment that rejected his sexuality. Just as he was about to commit suicide, a woman heard his cries and took him to a shelter where he was able to start a new life and study art.
At the age of 21, Alvaro created Brigada12 to help homeless people. His non-profit organizes art sales to fund its activities, and has engaged thousands of people to deliver millions of meals, and toys.
Brigada12 also provides training and psychological support, thus enabling the homeless to find jobs and live in dignity. In addition, the organization offers targeted help specifically for children and young parents.
Cynthia Houniuhi, 29, Solomon Islands, Climate change & human rights: Cynthia is President of Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change (PISFCC).
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While studying at the University of the South Pacific, Cynthia and 26 of her classmates called on the governments of Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga and Solomon Islands to ask the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to issue an advisory opinion on the obligations of states regarding climate change, including from a human rights perspective.
This request achieved a historic unanimous agreement from the UN General Assembly, the first advisory opinion request of its kind to be passed.
Her organisation is now made up of 100 members, and its outreach goes far beyond the Pacific, as many Small Island Developing States around the world are threatened by rising sea levels due to global warming.
The five Laureates will participate in the Young Activists Summit in person at the Palais des Nations on 19 November 2024 and will be available for interviews in the run-up to the event, and on the day of the Summit.
A media kit, video news releases, b-roll footage and pictures of the activists in their communities, and of their causes will be made available to journalists. Registration will open in the coming weeks.
To attend the Summit in person, media representatives are required to hold valid UNOG-issued media credentials; media without credentials can register here.
The Summit is organised by the United Nations Office at Geneva, the NGO dev.tv, Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS), and the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies.