(upbeat music) - Welcome everyone to this special episode of the next page podcast by Library Archives. This is a podcast designed to advance the conversation on multilateralism. And today I am in the studio with five guests. I've never had so many guests before. And they are the interns in various sections and units here in Library and Archives. And we're going to have a conversation altogether on the exploration of what it means for you as younger colleagues to be interns with Library and Archives, what you've discovered about UN Geneva. And we'll talk also about multiculturalism and what it means for us who work with international institutions. And of course about multilateralism and what youth has to do with multilateralism, what youth can do for multilateralism to UN. So it's a super great pleasure for me to have you here today. In the studio and thank you for coming forward with this idea actually because it wasn't my idea, it was yours. So yeah, let's go around the table so our audience can hear your voice and your name and where you're from and then we'll dive in immediately afterwards. - Thank you, Francesco. My name is Ashul, I am from Malaysia. I am currently doing my master's program with the University of Geneva. Now I am attached to UN Library and Archive for internship for three months. - Hello, my name is Rafaela Gutierrez and I'm American in Swiss. I'm here working as an intern at the as an event management for cultural activities and also our knowledge and learning comments. - Hello, I'm Alicia Grunert and I am the Archives and Museum Intern. And I'm here for four months and I just graduated and had my Bachelor of Arts in history and sociology and I am German, American and Haitian. - Hello, my name is Lucas. I am a history master's student at the University of Copenhagen and I've been here for three, two months almost. I'm starting and I'm gonna end next month and I'm also a library and archives intern. - Hello, I'm Mona Chen. I come from China and I'm pursuing a master's degree in in the cultural encounters in University of Helsinki. And I'm here doing internship mainly supporting for podcasts and also support for GLC and a CAP team. - Great, thank you for introducing yourself. So let's dive in. In the first part of our conversation, we want to explore a little bit your experience as interns with you and Geneva. This may be of interest for a lot of people out there who are seeking the same opportunities that you've been seeking with you and what it meant and how it gets done. So yeah, let's start with a little bit of the values and the ideals that guided you in this choice. So basically what inspired you to apply for an internship with the United Nations. - Yeah, I'll take that. I have two other students I know from Denmark who have also applied for this, who also worked for the UN in my position and their stories and their aspects of the work that they've done sounded extremely interesting. And I thought that that was something I wanted to do as well. And then working in a huge international organization has always been a big dream of mine. So I think interning for the UN and especially at Geneva is a perfect way to do that. - I'll go ahead, for me, what inspired me to apply. I've always dreamed about just being here in Geneva and the UN. You hear the UN as a kid and you're like, oh my goodness. This is an incredible institution that has done so many things. So it has always been a dream of mine and I came here last year to complete my masters. And I was like, okay, I'm just gonna swing it. I'm gonna apply, see what happens. Honestly, I was kind of just did it on a whim. And here I am today. So everyone, apply, you never know what could happen. - I can add one more thing. I never think about really working in the UN. It feels like far away from my personal life. I mean, before, but there are so many different positions, different organizations, departments. It's a great place for our young people to try many things. So that's one big motivation for me to try and to come here. - Just a simple word from my point of view, what inspired me is because the UN is to me, the epitome of multilateralism. So it's like we can have engagement, bilateral engagement between our country with other people. But if you want to experience the multilateral setup, so the UN is deeply for me. - Like everybody says, it's like a very big organization and has such an important meaning and value to it. And its purpose, it brings so much of everything for the global sense. And I think it's very important to be a part of this. And for me, I grew up in Geneva. So it was always part of the big UN, like a Geneva representation, being part of UN in Geneva as well. You see how impactful it has been to not only the population, but of course, globally, and to be part of this organization that actually does so much for multilateralism and change and for better peace in the world. It's always been a dream of mine to be a part of this and to actually be a part of that change as well. So I'm very happy that I am able to be here today and to discuss multilateralism as well. - There may be many other young people who like you aspire to have this experience. So I was wondering what you could share with them who may be listening, yeah, maybe some tips for future internship candidates. - I can also take that as one. I think it goes for most jobs and an internship is just apply. I think that's the best way to do this. And look at the, I think it's called the Inspire website. And look for internship, if you find that interesting. And I think don't be afraid to take a leap at going to a different country and trying to get an internship there. I think that's a really cool experience. - Another thing as well is that when you see the requirements on the application, even if you don't think that you meet the requirements or you'll be like, oh, no, they'll never take me, just do it anyway, because you never know. They'll be looking for someone, maybe that is very specific to the requirements or maybe they're looking for someone completely different. You never know. So honestly, take that leap, even if you think that you don't fit the criteria. - I agree with what Rafael has said because as well, the whole point of an internship is to learn. And so there was so many requirements that I didn't know if I could meet. And I was very nervous about how is it going to approach this and what support I was going to get. And everyone has been so lovely. There was so much support in my hand. And I've learned so much that I feel prepared for future endeavors that I might possibly take. And as well, I was also nervous for the application process because it was very competitive because there were so many applicants. But I've seen that if you're really persistent and even if you cannot get this internship of a particular internship that you want for one particular semester or a year, there's always other internships. There's always going to be other opportunities so you don't ever give up and keep persisting and you'll get there. - It's a good tips from my colleagues, but maybe I could also add something what you can do in your application whereby you should also maybe organize and tailor your forms or application to that suitable internship post that you are applying. And also you need to showcase your passion in your CV resume. And finally, you also need to develop relevant skills because even though, yes, the internship usually do not require you to have vast experience before joining, but then it's good when you study during your, maybe high school or maybe your university time, maybe you could also get involved more to work like volunteering and whatnot so it can somehow improve your skills and knowledge which could be really important asset when you applying for an internship. - I'll just add one little thing. Just go to learn one more language or if you can, two more languages. - Yeah, that counts, that counts. Languages are more, and we'll come to that. Multiculturalism means also multilingualism and it's very important to you. - So I was curious to ask you also, how do you see your internship experience influencing or adding to your future careers or your future goals? - So I am currently leaving for my work back in Hope Copenhagen, where I work for the Royal Library. So I've gotten a deeper understanding of library as a whole. And then I think that is really gonna be a future career path for me, working in a library perhaps. - Yeah, I think similarly to Lucas, I'm also on spectacle undertaking my master's program with University of Geneva. And I'm in the line of international relations. So it's really important to have this experience at the UN and also definitely I can see that my future to engage more in multilateral affairs and improve my understanding in this arena. - I agree as well. I think it's very important that it relates to what you're passionate about. And I just did my bachelor's of arts degree in history and sociology and I think I was able to very successfully get an internship which aligns with my passions in us doing museum and archiving business. And so it helped me because I just finished my bachelor's of art degree, how I'm gonna explore this future, what subjects I really am interested in and what I am very passionate about in sociology in multilateralism and cultural affairs and so forth. So I think it was very important for me to do this internship to see where my future aligns. - Also, I'll just add something quickly. So this internship actually really helped me see what I wanted to do in the future because I've had previous internship as well. But I never really knew what I wanted to do in the future and yes, I'm still young, but it's always kind of good to know what kind of path you want or something that you like. In my previous internships, I had two before this and I kind of was always doing the same thing. And then I come here and it was kind of similar to my previous internships and then it kind of clicked to me and I was like, oh my goodness, I see a pattern here and it wasn't until I got here at the UN that I realized that I'm really into organizing events and that's something that I wanna continue doing. So I'm so grateful to be here for this wonderful experience that has taught me so much and I've learned so much. - So Francesco, in your opinion, what qualities or experiences is the UN looking for in candidates when selecting interns? - Well, that depends of course. There are a lot of vacancies every year. There is an entire program of the Global Secretariat for internships, so depending on duty stations, there are literally thousands of internship positions and so not all the vacancies are the same. So they specify the qualities and the terms of reference if you wish in the areas of specialization. So it was visible to you when applying that this was Librarian of Time, for example, it was just a generic internship. So that is clearly the case. The overall, I would say, I think what is a winner in internship profiles for the applicant side? I think it's curiosity and passion for international relations, for basically the bigger game of international affairs or global affairs, this kind of look at things from the international sphere. And so that I think is quality that all interns share and that means that when we select as a Secretariat, we have an eye out for that. We keep an eye for this kind of passion for multilateralism, interest, at least, if not passion. And most interns are motivated also by the curiosity of the UN as an organization. But not all, not all. There are a number of interns who don't come because they dream of being a UN staffer. They come to understand this wider dimension of international affairs in the world of international organizations, which is a subcategory of international affairs, of course. Yeah, I would say that is my understanding after a few years in this job. So, yeah, well, thank you for that question. I would like now to explore together a little bit the dimensional multiculturalism because when we talk about multilateralism, we're also talking about multicultural, the multi-talents that you have also witnessed here. You came across so many people, diplomats, staff, our own researchers, and you really start to realize that this is part of the environment, it's part of our culture, this multi-many things, yeah? And so I wanted to ask you one or two questions. And the first is certainly, in what way, is multiculturalism relevant to you as individuals, not to you as people who choose to be interns, but really as people, yeah, what it means to you? - The first two things come to my mind. The first one is like the changing of my friendship circle. I feel my friends have become like more diverse. They all come from different backgrounds. And then the second thing is experiencing the changes of the ways that I learn and I perceive. I mean, I study and then live in Finland, or I study and live in Geneva. That's totally different compared with my life in China. So yeah, that's two things very specific that the way I feel. But if I think about more about the multiculturalism, I think that the way everyone of us actually already exposed to multiculturalism, in a way that maybe much earlier than we already realized. For example, as a typical Chinese grow up in mainland China, when I was a little ago, I first get to know about toast. I mean, that's the moment I was exposed to another culture. That's kind of a reflection of multiculturalism already in our daily life. Yeah, so I can give another example. Like, just this morning in our coffee chatting, we talked about each Arabic speaking country. They actually speak different Arabic, such as there's a combination of Arabic and French, right? We maybe take it for granted with them a notice. It's actually related to multiculturalism, but actually they are. And multiculturalism is deeply and in a very broad way already embedded in our daily basis. I just want to add, based on my background as a Malaysian, so I value multiculturalism even when I was small, because in Malaysia, we mix with all different races. We have Malay, Chinese, Indian, and also other ethnic, smaller ethnic groups. And sometimes we have different language as well. And even our food are also different, but when we experience these kinds of differences, we tend to be more cooperative understanding and more flexible in life. So multiculturalism, to me, is not something that you somehow learn in class or learn from other people, but you need to experience it, to live. And then you have a better worldview and approach in life. And also, it's better how you approach diplomacy in that matter that's from my experience. Yeah, I grew up as a third culture kid, which means I grew up-- I was born and raised in a different country than where my parents are from. And growing up, I found it was very difficult for me, because I didn't feel like I belonged. I felt very different. And so I had a lot of identity questions, especially about my cultures and which ones I can take about. And then especially as well, I went to an international school. And so there you're faced with so many international people from all around the world, and then you get to really appreciate something that I once didn't like about myself. And I turned to actually re-loving when you explore each of your cultures. And you show the dynamic and the environment, and it all comes together. And it shows that this is something that really is important to show and advertise multiculturalism and not just one culture, because we're all influencing every culture there's so many traditions and history that are now becoming interconnected. And there's a real power in that that I don't think has been discussed before, especially definitely not in school, but now having a platform and organization like the United Nations, where we actually talk about multilateralism, where we talk about multiculturalism. It really shows the impact of the world and where we come from, and well, the new world that we are now creating and coming to be about together. Then I would like to ask you what means to you in your daily work? Because multiculturalism is relevant to us as people in different ways, so depending on how you were raised, where you were raised, where you grew up, as you were saying, the kind of culture in which you grew up, multi-ethnic. But I'm curious to discover, during your internship here, how you experience it, and how important is it in your daily work? When you ask this question, I recall the first day when I report duty here as an intern. My supervisor asked me about my name, what is my first name, and what is my family name. Where I, in our culture, there's no such exercise. We don't have first name, we don't have last name. We just have one long name with our name in it, and son of or daughter of our dad's name, our father's name. So that's what my supervisor told me. It's like, oh, this is something new. I learned something new, even though I believe she's a very experienced officer here in the UN. But you always learn something new. That is the beauty of multiculturalism. And especially when you are working at this kind of environment at the UN, you will experience new things, and you learn it through your engagement, through your dialogue. And that is how I think this kind of knowledge and skills that you can improve without good to class, or in a classroom, for that matter. So yeah, it's really an impactful aspect to me in my daily work. I agree. So I work in the archives and museum department. And I think that multiculturalism is a result of multilateralism. And the museum specifically talks about multilateralism and the evolution from its origins to the League of Nations time to what we have, the United Nations today. And so you get to really see a world on how it was created and how important it is on our daily lives. And when I am doing tours for multilateralism museum, and you get people from all around the world coming to visit, and they all want to know about their own country, and it just shows how beautiful it can be when everyone's incorporated, when everyone's country is incorporated. Even if it's in a negative light, because a lot of time I'm German. Germans during the war, World Wars, we're not specifically the best. But even though it's a joyful experience, because I get to share it with other people. And you get global perspectives from everyone. And the archives, and we're talking about the League of Nations, we get the cultural heritage that is still preserved. And I think that's why it's so important to have archives in general, but let alone in the United Nations, because you get a global perspective, global cultural heritage that's always going to be preserved. It shows really the importance. So coming every day to work, doing tours, and also dealing with the archives. I always think I'm doing good work, because I get to see the result of it. And it really means a lot. So I think it's amazing that you have the opportunity, as well as an intern, to be able to experience that. - Rafael and me, we are in our industry. We help in organizing different cultural activities, which pattern with different permanent dimensions. Through all these cultural events and activities, I feel like we are encountering the new things, the unknown is all the time. But usually the instinct, the reaction to the unknown is, is maybe the resistance, maybe the fear. But if we're related to our daily work, related to the multiculturalism, we need to be respectful and be open. I do feel the deep emotion connection between individuals and their own network cultures. It's not just about traditional clothing, food, or language. It's also about the environment of one growing up, that's a part of one's identity. Then one more thing about multiculturalism is that it's not just about cultures of different ethnic countries. It's also about ages, genders, and classes, and all the other things. The UN is also promoting a culture of different voices and different groups. That's all about multiculturalism. - Just to add, honestly, what's super interesting about being here at the UN, and especially on the cultural events team, is that for each event, it's different countries. So different permanent missions come and ask us to help them host these events happening in the pellet. So when these events happen, you just see how much it means to them, the process of just them organizing it, and putting so much effort, the passion that I see it in the background, it's just honestly so eye-opening, because just being proud of who you are in your culture, it's just something that is so important, and you wouldn't think that, but here at the UN, that's just one of the most amazing things. There's so many different cultures, and there's so many things going on, so you get to experience so many things that you wouldn't experience elsewhere, and you just see this incredible eye-opening experience that, honestly, is very, very worth it. And sorry, no, go ahead. - You speak about who you are. That's really reminds me of rethinking self-positioning. It refers to spatial dimension and temporal dimension, but also it's really about dialogues with people with many different backgrounds, then making sense of values of the world, of yourself, of all the identities. So, yeah, that's something I keep thinking through all these multiculturalism, all these international activities, the international encounters. And so, yeah, you said who you are, and who I am, all these questions, they are very basic conversations, but they could be very-- - But it's also you don't think about it, unless you're in that position, and you're like, okay, wow, and it's very nice. - And just to piggyback on that, for you, Francesco, how does a library and archives act as an instrument of international understanding? - It's a tough job. This is actually part of the motto that was given to the original library, that when we were created in 1919, and we're still here, so we're older than the UN, which is quite amazing in itself. We were 100 years old in 2019, and we celebrated that, so we are over 100 now. So, we've always been aware of this sort of promise, commitment put on us to be a center for research and an instrument of international understanding, as you said. So, the way we do that, we do that daily and overall as vision, but also as a daily work. So, there are various facets, let me say maybe two or three or four. The first is certainly the act of preserving the memory of multilateralism. So, here's really the place where we have tweet number one of multilateralism in its organized dimension, yeah, that of states that decide to create organizations to maintain a multilateral space, as was the case for the League of Nations. So, preserving that is really one way to nurture the space in which international understanding can happen safely, yeah, based on facts, based on primary, especially primary, when you work in the archives you know about this, primary resources and secondary resources of collection. So, we also do that by enriching those collections. Secondary resources are extremely important. So, having a library, we act like a global, scientific library of multilateralism. So, if there is something interesting, a new study, something out there that is coming up, we grab it and we put in our collections. Thirdly, we try to mobilize all that knowledge, combine with the knowledge of the UN. The UN is an amazing organization because if you want to know anything about more than one country that is your own, that is where the UN is an amazing knowledge. Not only repository, but also a knowledge exchange place. The number of reports, we're often criticized for too many reports, too many papers, but we're an entire planet, made not only of many countries, but many ethnicities, many regions, many culture, many religions, many people, many genders. So, there is, yeah, there is need for hundreds of thousands of reports. We make sure that these are discoverable, that these are there, that could be found in research and with technology, we can do many, many more things. Then the third thing, the fourth thing I think, the contributes that is holding the space for connection and study that goes beyond these official things for which the UN is known, like conferences, negotiation, mediation, but there is need for space in which humans can get together. Of course, they belong to a state, but outside the chairs of official delegation, there are other things that can happen, and you have witnessed that, particularly in our work at the Commons for Knowledge and Learning, and our working cultural activities you were mentioning. That's not an official meeting of the UN, it's an event that runs parallel to them. And lastly, we also do it through you because by hearing you telling the story of what it means to you in your daily life, how changed the perspective of who do I think I am and who I thought you were, just because of your origin or nationality. By doing that, I think we're doing very good international understanding as well, yeah? So hey, why don't we move on to discussing then multilateralism, because we talked about multiculturalism, and there cannot be some of you said it, they're independent. One is connected to the other, and vice versa, they both connected. And so I wanted to ask you, building on the discussion we had so far, maybe exploring a little bit more about multilateralism, why this is important and what it means to you as young actors of this. So multilateralism is there, and you are entering it, and you're going to entertain the space for the years to come. And I'm so curious to hear from you what's important to you. - For me, I always associated multilateralism with the United Nations, but I didn't think about it much prior to the United Nations and prior to the League of Nations. But working in the museum, I get to discover and research the law about the origins of multilateralism and how it evolved. And one of the first documents ever that we still have to this day is from Henry IV, who was a French king, who written a memoir right after the Wars of Religion. And he wanted to secure alliances so that they don't have to continue this way. And it's like he created in his memoir how to have a dialogue, an open dialogue, and communication. And that's when I realized how important it is, because since the very beginning of time of humankind, the first instruments that we ever built were weapons. We're actually very prone to violence, and there's been hundreds and hundreds of wars throughout all the centuries. For me, it's hard to know the feeling because I grew up very privileged in this generation where even though there are wars to this day and international conflicts, it's not close to how it was in the past and the last centuries, even how it was last century. So I think when I was actually able to research it and do it for my museum, I got to actually see how important it is to actually have multilateralism and to have an organization devoted solely to this purpose, because who would want to live in a world where you always have to constantly worry and be in a constant state of violence or fear because of it. And that's how I realized how important it is to always keep it going. And I think it's very hard to lose that mindset because now when you're talking about the United Nations, it's always about the current situations that's happening and then you forget the purpose of this organization, why it was placed in the first place and even in the League of Nations. And having this museum reminded me on the importance of it and why we should always support the United Nations because it's devotion and purpose is to actually help every country that it can. - Yeah, from my perspective, multilateralism means it's a big thing because you can't have 193 countries speaking to each other individually. At the end of the day, you need one platform where you can gather all the international actors and to discuss about the global issues because at the end of the day, we are all somehow interconnected. So we can do our things or we can't work in silos. That is why it's really important and it's imperative to have this multilateralism UN as the platform to discuss in six solutions and do better for the world and the next generation. - Yeah, just something quickly. I just think it honestly, it's so important as it fosters peace and stability and sustainable development worldwide, which is something we need, especially with wars going on currently as well. So having an organization like the United Nations, really just striving and working towards helping and fostering peace and stability is something that is very, very essential and will always be essential in my opinion. - And to quickly add from what Rafael had just said as well, there's also so many conflicts that we have to go through worldwide and we've had this in the past, like dealing with a black plague to what we have now with coronavirus. There's issues that everyone's gonna be affected by and so it's good to actually, instead of being against one another because we're from different states, different cultures, that we actually come together to actually solve these solutions. So that's another reason why I think it's very important that we discuss multilateralism, not just for the UN, but how it actually affects us everyone globally. - Then I wonder if this experience has enabled you to have a deeper understanding of multilateralism in itself. I've met all sorts of people that could not even pronounce multilateralism and I understand it could be very foreign to someone who's just intending his own or her own reality and job and daily, you know, goings. But really it is, as you said, it is important and I lack a lot here picture of who will want to live in a world that is constantly peroccupied or may happen at your borders because there are no rules, there is no multilateral overall understanding. So yeah, I wonder if during this internship, during these months inside the UN, you have gained a deeper understanding of multilateralism. - Yeah, I would say I definitely witnessed the importance of the multilateral corporation, especially as I engaged with diverse stakeholders in organizing global events, which I learned that there's a lot of complexities of multilateral decision and this decision-making process, which is very complex. And also I recognized the interconnectedness of global issues, which is very key. - Yeah, working through some of the primary sources, I've also had a lot of interesting understandings of, for example, women's voting rights, which has been a huge problem throughout the world, which are really good understanding of how the UN has helped with that and that's one of the things. Also voting rights in Africa has also been a part of the sources I've looked at and that's two issues that I've seen is quite big that the UN has helped with. - Okay, let me then ask you to conclude this part of the conversation on multilateralism. What is your hope for multilateralism going forward? - I think personally, my hope for multilateralism would be evolution and adaptation to meet evolving global challenges and greater inclusivity that fosters transparency and also like effective decision-making processes and also enhanced corporation and coordination among different nations and among different stakeholders. And also just promoting of peace and security and sustainable development goals, because here actually is very important that before I came here, I honestly didn't have much information about what the SDGs were. And then I come here and the UN is very SDG focus, which they should be because these goals are very, very, very instrumental to what is going on. - I hope that in the future, I'm not in the future. I mean, we can effectively raise the awareness of multilateralism to more people, to more young generations. And I think it's very important. We are all in front of many pressing problems, big issues like climate change, like a war's violence. Some people may be criticized the UN work or the multilateralism, but actually that's really a big challenge to do multilateralism and believe of us who work in the UN. They are really passionate about pushing multilateralism and trying to achieve all these SDGs, these long-term targets or short-term targets. Yeah, that's... I hope there will be more people involved in multilateralism, yeah. Okay, then we have one more question for you. We all come from different backgrounds and have different perspectives. What can we do more to promote principles of multilateralism? - Oh, that's a difficult one, because I think multilateralism has been considered throughout the history of international relations as an area where states will be actors and all the others will be participants at best. And I think that that tendency exists still today in organized multilateralism. And the UN is certainly part of that, where it's made of member states, yeah. So I think that what is changing, what is emerging, is that because many of the problems that multilateralism will have to face are global in nature, they're not problems, they're targeting states as entities, they're actually targeting individuals like the crisis of inequalities and migration and climate change itself is a problem for me and for my descendants, right? It's not a state problem. So that makes it so the multilateral is seeping through into the area of interest of individuals as humans. And so individuals have a legitimate expectations that are put on multilateralism because no one state can solve a problem. No one individual, even more so, will be able to solve the challenge of climate change. So I think that it's becoming more relevant to people versus how protected area was for the states in the past. What we could do depends really on every individual can do a lot. First of all is to know the principles, the understand like you. You're double privileged or maybe even triple privileged because you were giving a chance to experience situation in which you could say, yes, now I understand how complex it is, how important it is, I'm using your words. Yeah, so that is great. And I hope that you will be speaking to many other people of your generation to be able to say, hey, and on a second, this is important. Let me tell you my experience, right? So I think one thing that we could all do together over and above our individual actions, depending on our interests, our jobs, you don't need to work in the UN to be an actor of multilateralism. You could be in the economy. You could be a parliamentarian. You could be a teacher. That's very powerful. Teachers are people who change people's lives, you know? So that could be one thing. But what really makes us, I think, all in a global alliance is a deeper respect for diversity. And diversity is really a huge potential for people that live on Earth. And I don't think we grasped the importance. We actually use diversity as something that we want to sort of overcome almost, you know? There was this in technology and the economy. Certainly, you have a driver for harmonization. We love that, right? We love when we're in control. And we love people that look or act or think like us. But actually, diversity is how we will get out of these problems. And diversity is an asset. But how you turn into active energy for change is by using inclusivity, in inclusion. So you have diversity, that you could respect diversity and start to love diversity. Like you gave us your example of your country, right? That is a respect for diversity. How to mutate this into pure energy is inclusion. Now at diversity, now I include all this diversity in my thinking process, in my planning process, in my execution process. And then, you know, these are the things we could do together. So that's my opinion. But then I have an end question to all of you, which is, what do you think youth can bring to the UN? - Okay, I can start. First, related to what you said, multilateralism is also about individuals, right? Then back to the youth, I think we bring more voices, different voices. It's a way that the UN gives the chance to, you know, the voice with less speaking opportunities. And also the most important, the quiet voices, the voices we never heard about today. If they can be involved in the UN, then I think that means a lot. It's also the way the young people learning from the UN and the UN learning from the young people. - Yeah, definitely, I agree with you. From my understanding, what youth bring to the UN is like, to me, youth equivalent to future, future generation. So even the SDG, if we look at all the targets, all the goals that we want to achieve, is actually for future, you know, sustainability is for the future. If we are thinking about the current generation without thinking about the future, then we won't be having this SDG and, you know, the future target. So to me, youth is everything, you know. Youth is the future. And we are looking forward for not only for our children, but our children's children's and the next. So it's very important. - I also think youth is very important. And I correlate the youth with multilateralism and multiculturalism, because every generation coming up now, we're becoming more integrated as a society globally. And so now we get voices from everywhere, we get global perspectives on everything. And because of traveling is becoming so much more part of our lives, we get to hear all these voices. And now it's a new generation. And when I think about multiculturalism, I think of also age as well and generations. And each generation now is becoming more interconnected. And that's going to impact multiculturalism, how it's viewed, how it's impacted, and as well as multilateralism. So it's just going to continue to be advanced. I hopefully there's going to be more museums, more just discussion and conversation about multilateralism because it's becoming more and more part of our world. And of course, the world of the youth. - Yes, just to piggyback on that. The youth here is the future, just like my other colleague has said. And having them now just further helps the UN develop and continue their work, because if we didn't have youth, we would just be stuck, because once the generation that is already here is done, what else would happen, nothing. So the youth is very, very crucial to the continuity of the UN's work here. - Yeah, I think the youth brings innovation and changeability and inspiring other people to even further the youth for the UN and for a brighter future. - As we wrap up this episode and I turn the question to myself, if I ask myself that question, I think that youth also carries a duty, the duty of hope, and when we're young, it's part of our duties. There are things that are on our shoulders. Even if that responsibility is not formally appointed to us, it is a responsibility nonetheless. Because without hope, humankind has never realized anything. If you think about it, everything that we created in our civilization, or civilizations, if you prefer, was based on hope, hope for something that is not here now. So that is the duty of hope, what I call the duty of hope. And I'm sad when I see that conditions around the world sort of conjure up, create this environment in which youth should be sad, the motivated, and losing hope. And that is the ultimate defeat of us as a humankind. You talk about intergenerationality. When you're older is as if you lie on the younger part of our population to carry that flag of hope. Because every time, every age of your life, you have a moral duty of something. And your moral duty, in my opinion, is to carry hope through the generation so that the next generation can also have some hope. Have you thought about that? How hope rolls over generation by generation? So you have that on your shoulders. Sometimes it may feel heavy, but hey, that's the future. We need hope for the future. So I would like to say huge thank you for all of you. First of all, for being part of our teams, because I know all of you, I work with a few of you more directly than others, but I know all of you. And I'm grateful that you're with us. And secondly, I wanted to say thank you for being on this podcast. And I hope that the audience really will appreciate and will learn from your experience. And we will continue to have young collaborators as good as you in the future here for the labyrinth. So big thanks from all of us. And good luck to all of you. - Thank you. - Thank you so much. - Thank you. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) [MUSIC PLAYING] [BLANK_AUDIO]
