Afghanistan Youth Representative to the United Nations selected

20 Jun 2018

Afghanistan Youth Representative to the United Nations selected

KABUL - Ramiz Bakhtiar has been selected as Afghanistan’s Youth Representative to the United Nations for 2018.

Mr Bakhtiar joins a group of youths from across the globe who act as representatives of a new generation at the UN. He is tasked, firstly, with engaging and meeting with other young Afghans to hear their ideas about politics, the UN and the role of the UN in Afghanistan. He is then expected to visit UN headquarters in New York to convey the ideas and opinions he gathers in a special event anticipated to take place in September around the time the Security Council will meet to review the situation in Afghanistan.

Mr Bakhtiar is encouraged to use social media to engage and share their activities with other young people in Afghanistan.

His election follows the initiative of The Netherlands, currently a member of the Security Council. The Netherlands is  sponsoring the programme.

The selection of Mr Bakhtiar as Afghanistan’s Youth Representative to the UN for 2018 follows a multi-stage process involving video and in-person interviews, as well as a debate that took place 19 June in Kabul.  The judges included Netherlands Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stef Blok, who yesterday visited the Afghan capital, along with Tadamichi Yamamoto, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, and representatives from the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the youth organization ‘Afghans for Progressive Thinking.’