Reflecting on the Critical Role of Youth Activists in Driving Progress
December 22, 2025
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – On December 15, 2025, UAEM’s World Health Organization Youth Council Representative, Vanessa McLennan, attended the High-Level Stocktaking Event for the 10th Anniversary of Resolution 2250. This event was a powerful reminder of our role as youth activists within the global landscape.
Adopted by the UN Security Council on December 9, 2015, Resolution 2250 was a monumental step towards recognizing youth as essential partners in maintaining international peace and security. It encouraged Member States to ensure that young people meaningfully participate in peace, justice, and reconciliation. As the Young Leaders for the Sustainable Development Goals stated during the event: “Young people's contributions to peace did not begin 10 years ago, but the resolution led to the institutionalization of their contributions.”
To mark this anniversary, the stocktaking event at the United Nations Headquarters in NYC convened representatives from Member States, UN agencies, and youth leaders to discuss a decade of progress. The room was filled with both celebration for the progress achieved and urgency for larger-scale action. We listened to tangible success stories: Finland and Italy shared their progress as the first and second countries, respectively, to implement National Action Plans for youth engagement, while Kyrgyzstan discussed establishing youth councils within their local governments. These represent international momentum towards genuine inclusion of youth in governance.
For those of us at UAEM, we are familiar with fighting to have a seat at the table. Whether we are negotiating university licensing policies, advocating for broader access to medicines, or navigating the everchanging health policy landscape, we are often fighting to have our youth voices to be heard. This meeting reinforced our position: youth are not just bystanders, we are key drivers actively shaping a better future. During this meeting, the United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (UN DPPA) emphasized this by repeatedly referring to youth as "co-architects" of peace. As a student-led organization, UAEM embodies this as student leaders continually carve the path towards sustainable progress.
On December 12, 2025, news of the Security Council’s unanimous adoption of Resolution 2807 marked a positive step forward. This new resolution reinforces and builds upon the last decade, calling for even greater youth leadership in peace and security. Within UAEM, and across the globe, youth continue to push for a more equitable future. To close with a quote from Finland at the High-Level Event, “Let [these resolutions] bring us together, intergenerationally, to help us build not just a better tomorrow, but a better today.”