Entry Five: Durban
For the past two days I have been just stressed out. Stressed out over the fact that we, the youth, are here to be heard and still we have not been heard. The U.N. definition of youth is thirty & under and because of this I am confused. How should I address someone between twenty-one and thirty? Should I address them as youth or as an adult. This is very unclear to me and to most youth that have also been following the youth summit, for both those under twenty as well as for those over.

Another issue that is also causing some problems is that most of the chair people are men, and this is unfair to the women. Most of the men are acting like they have a lot of power and they are NOT respecting other people and their opinions. I believe this is a major issue because they are not organized. I think that they need to respect everyone's opinion and they can do this by showing that they are listening to what everyone has to say and give everyone an equal chance to express themselves and an equal chance to be heard.

Youth also feel that the U.N. is disrespecting the Youth Summit and the youth meetings that followed during the NGO Forum because this is a U.N. conference and translation has been a major problem. The U.N. has provided translation to all of the other tents in the NGO forum and the WCAR itself, but the youth have had to provide for their own translation from youth volunteers. This is one of the reasons why they are so many problems in the youth meetings.

I am sorry if you don't understand because everything has been so crazy. Since the day I entered Durban, South Africa, the adults are all saying the same thing: "Youths are the next generation. Youth are the future." So if we are the future and they are the present, why isn't the future being heard? Why is the future being neglected? It is very tough for youth like me that have traveled so far and other youth that have traveled even further than I have.

What I am saying is, if we are the bright future of the world, let the future speak!!!

If we could be heard, it might sound like this: we want proper education, we want full representation in all U.N. events, we want the U.N. documents created at the NGO forum and WCAR to be written in an accessible language that youth can understand, we want the Convention on the Rights of the Children to be ratified by the U.S. and Somalia, and we want this World Conference Against Racism to be the start of the end of racism, so our children and the next generation younger than us can grow up equally and won't have to experience the discrimination and segregation that we experienced.

Annie's Journal Traveling Day Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 - 8 Day 9 Traveling Day

Dezroy's Journal Traveling Day Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 & 5 Day 6 Day 7 - 8 Day 9 Day 10 Traveling Day