UN chief urges youth to get more involved at Calgary address

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hoped to inspire hundreds of young Calgarians to play a more dominant role in engaging with the world around them, at an address at the University of Calgary Friday night.

In his first official visit to Alberta since being appointed in 2007, Ban said he felt a sense of community when he arrived at the school.

• UN chief Ban ki-Moon urges countries to let in more Syrian refugees
• Climate change could have link with terrorism, UN chief Ban Ki-moon tells CBC

"I encourage you to see our world as your community," Ban said.

"Education is not something you take, it is something you use to give back to the world. It should be used for the common good of humanity."

Ban said the United Nations is focused on three major challenges as they relate to young people: sustainable development, employment and peace and security.

He also said Canada is in line with the UN on these issues.

"Your prime minister is one of the youngest prime ministers in the world," Ban said of Justin Trudeau.

"You can understand the good vision he already has."

Climate change debate 'is over'

Ban challenged students to push their political leaders to make progress on climate change.

"There have been many skeptics, deniers and critics [as to] why we have to take this climate change so seriously … whether climate change is happening or not? That debate is over," Ban said.

"A low-carbon economy has become already a part of our life."

He explained youth unemployment globally requires an immediate focus.

"You are the persons of ideas and wisdom and vision," Ban said. "Invent them, you can do it."

'Young people want peace'

Ban said war and conflict affect youth in so many ways.

"Right now millions of young people are affected by conflict," the UN chief said.

"There are no options for them … I am outraged by all this continuing injustice," he said.

"Some see youth as the problem. Violent extremists may prey on young people, but the vast majority of young people want peace," he added.

"When we invest in young people, they can take care of the rest."

Raise your voice

Young people have to get more involved, especially by holding their leaders to account, Ban said.

"Raise your voice. You have unlimited authority and power and right to raise your voice," he said.

"Make sure that this world is for us. Prove [to] them youth are not a liability. Youth are an opportunity," he said.

"Help the United Nations make peace in our world."

Syrian refugees

Ban took the lead in urging countries to accept more Syrian refugees earlier this year.

"This demands an exponential increase in global solidarity," Ban told a Geneva gathering of officials from over 90 countries in March.

"I ask that countries act with solidarity, in the name of our shared humanity, by pledging new and additional pathways for the admission of Syrian refugees," he said.

Last November the UN chief drew a connection between climate change and terrorism.

​"When we do not address climate change properly it may also affect many people who are frustrated and who are impacted, then there is some possibility that these young people who [are] jobless and frustrated may join these foreign terrorist fighters," Ban told CBC News in late November.

• MORE CALGARY NEWS | Calgary woman hit by SUV driver while walking dies in hospital
• MORE CALGARY NEWS | High-risk offender re-arrested in Calgary days after release