3
THE ROLE OF YOUTH IN ATTAINING THE RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT DURING COVID19 Joleen Bakalova, USA The impact of COVID-19 on youth’s right to development is almost always discussed by adults. Topics of articles and reports are often written by and for those in older generations to help inform policy. While it is extremely important to move forward based on the perspective of highly-educated experts, there is also great value in young people analyzing the impact of the pandemic on their right to development and contributing to decision-making themselves. COVID-19 has affected nearly every aspect of human life since its mass spread in 2020, and it has disrupted equitable access to development around the globe for young people since. Though devastation due to the virus has been experienced across the board, the pandemic has created disproportionate impacts, with the brunt of the global crisis falling upon least developed countries and those at the lowest rungs of their socioeconomic ladders. As the experts, activists, and other stakeholders discussed during the Fifth Session of the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development, there have been increases in child labor, child marriage, inadequate access to education, economic insecurity, and other significant barriers to the right of development, particularly in marginalized communities. Unfortunately, the destabilizing harm of the pandemic will continue to be felt for years to come. Speakers of the session pointed towards public health-related issues, like vaccine nationalism and the varying qualities of medical infrastructure, as well as systemic issues, like neoliberalism and modern imperialism, as the barriers our collective society must overcome in order to ensure the right to development for all people. As for young people’s right to development, progress can not be made without addressing the core public health and systemic issues at hand that have been spotlighted during this pandemic, and we must have a key role in doing so. One of the experts emphasized the importance and dire need to “look far beyond” those that society usually deems experts for guidance in this time of crisis. She highlighted that those within a particular group are intimately familiar with their community’s needs, and it is crucial that these voices are included in global decision-making dialogue. This expert’s statements are extremely applicable to youth. Young people are the face of our world in this pandemic reality. Though we have experienced the devastation of loss, the isolation from society, and the maturation during a global crisis, we have also experienced the excitement and hope for progress. We have also experienced an innate desire to move our lives forward, to move society forward.
Us young people are indeed the future, which has been discussed time and time again. As the future, our access to the right to development is, by effect, the world’s access to the right to development. Only when youth are at the center of the world’s efforts toward promoting our shared right to development can we come closer to attaining it.
