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Global Diplomacy in the 21st Century: Game On?
Why does global diplomacy seem to be dwindling right now, at a time when we need it the most? This was the question posed by the Harvard Social Impact Project to high school delegates participating in the 2020 Harvard Model UN Conference. Over 3000 students from all over the world came to discuss world issues and submit their innovative responses to this challenging prompt. Winners are often the only ones who have their projects showcased, but who said we have to go with traditional norms? Here's my project, an essay, which I'm proud to share with the global community of young people. The gist...
To the people with the guns
Marking International Poetry Day (21 March 2020), a group of young poets and Voices of Youth contributors write about the power of peace. Their poems are a cry to end violence against children, and a message of support to the children and youth affected by conflict. Kamogelo is a 17 year old from South Africa with a passion to learn from, inspire and educate anyone who gives her the chance to. She frequently blogs about women’s rights, education and equality on Voices Of Youth. You can read her content here. I dream a dream of playgrounds and lemonade I dream a dream of nights with clear skies...
Coronavirus does not justify racism or xenophobia
As of early March, there are close to 90,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in almost 60 different countries. Most of these cases (almost 80,000) are in China. Because of this, and the fact that the infection started in China, Covid-19 fears are being used to fuel Sinophobia and anti-Asian racism at large, as well as xenophobia. This is detrimental for so many reasons; racism is always detrimental. There have been reported cases, particularly in North America, Europe and Asia, of people making racist jokes related to Chinese people and the Coronavirus, putting Asians in quarantine solely on the...
Silent Sea
I sit by the Silent Sea as the day drowns in the dusk I sit on the land of you and me with a tornado of grief among all of us I listen to the Silent Sea as she begins to weep I listen the mothers' cry with heads on their sons' bare wounded chest I see the Silent Sea as she is turning red at the shore I see my brothers being buried and their corpses bathed in blood I touch the Silent Sea as I feel anger and screams in her silence I touch the war marks on my arm no more giving me pride but only grief I am a victor in the war but a loser here of course the human in me is not letting me breathe...
Harassment
Sexual harassment or harassment in general is a big issue in today’s world. There are many different types of ways people can be harassed. It can be something as simple as looking ata person up and down, catcalling, or something more serious and dangerous like being kidnapped and sexually abused. There are many other ways people can be harassed which are too many to name, and the fact is that there really shouldn't be that many ways. Many people blame victims instead of blaming the attacker, which is always wrong and there should be no excuses for people who attack others in this way...
The Importance of Indigenous and Cultural Memory in Post-conflict Colombia
Following the signing of the Colombian Peace Agreement in 2016, the deep impact of the armed conflict on Colombian society has become more evident. This conflict has touched, in particular, the communities which have lived in the territories that have been disputed historically. Indigenous communities have been one of the most affected not only in a physical, economic and social level, but also in terms of their cultural identity. Memory has been a fundamental tool for the construction of historical processes and, as we know, this is not only an individual process, it also has a collective...
Safer Internet Day 2020: Online kindness matters too
People rarely understand the importance that words have. I was only 14 years old the first time I experienced cyber bullying. After being bullied at school for a few years the girls in my class started this rumour that I had talked about them behind their backs, of course what they needed was a reason not to look guilty in front of others. And so they confronted me. And I tried explaining myself but they were clearly not looking for an explanation. When I got home they had opened Facebook group chats where they would continue talking mean things about me even though I would beg them to stop...
Opioid Crisis: How Youth Can Look at Pain Relief
If you’ve been keeping up with current events, chances are you are well aware of the dire reports of the United States' immense and worsening opioid crisis, which claimed as many as 130 lives every single day in the nation by 2017, the latest year data was collected. Yet amid the flurry of warnings and lamentations, one thing you likely haven’t heard is the enormous toll the crisis of addiction is taking on young people not only in America but also around the globe. For far too long, youth have been largely excluded from conversations surrounding the opioid crisis, not to mention today’s...
Air pollution must stop! A natural remedy to freshen your home
The problem I choose is about air pollution and how we can solve it. There are 7.7bilion people on this earth and the human race has evolved and come a very long way. As humans, we have ruined the planet with deforestation, pollution, environmental destruction and we have made many species of animals endangered due to our habits. Air pollution is caused by many things like fires and smoke from factories that release ashes and clouds of smoke into the air, which if inhaled could be really bad for your health. My solution to stop air pollution is very simple for your house so that you can have...
Three youth activists fighting pneumonia, the “forgotten” epidemic
Technology in Health Care - Curse or Blessing?
In today’s world, technology plays a major role in almost every economic and social aspect of society as well as in our daily life. A life without it has become unimaginable. Also, the health sector has become highly dependent on it, in terms of medical devices and equipment for diagnosis and therapy, process organisation and data management, for the development of pharmaceuticals etc. While the people working in the medical sector are thrilled by these developments and face the future optimistically, patients on the other hand increasingly voice fear and unease concerning the mechanisation...
The Power Of Redemption
Redemption. The cure to all wrongdoings, the way to erase past mistakes while holding onto all we have learned from them. Forgiveness. Is such a thing even possible, or have we reached a point of no return. Hope. For our future, we will live in a better world, but only if we choose to. Determination. The ability to make change, and work tirelessly until we live in a world which we are proud of. Success. A mere illusion or dream of glory, of what could be. Reality. Reality is whatever we want it to be. When did we stop dreaming the brightest of dreams that allowed us to live in a world with...
All you need to liberate society – the internet?
Torture for a good cause?
Safer Internet Day 2020: art against cyberbullying
Safer Internet Day 2020: a life broken by cyberbullying
Safer Internet Day 2020: replace hate with kindness online
We live in fear
You would think that after 9 years of war, you'd be accustomed to bombs and bullets, but that's never true. Every bomb kills a part of you that you never thought would die, every bullet goes through your heart and never truly leaves. The pain and anguish goes deeper with each heart beat, and there's nothing left for you but to pray for any higher power to end this misery in anyway possible.
Peace Interrupted
Marking International Poetry Day (21 March 2020), a group of young poets and Voices of Youth contributors write about the power of peace. Their poems are a cry to end violence against children, and a message of support to the children and youth affected by conflict. Annie is a Voices of Youth blogger from South Africa. She wants a better future for children across the globe and for their voices to be heard. You can read her content here. I need not know what death feels like to understand the pain of all the widows and orphaned children who lost their fathers in vain. The sobbing of the broken...