Following the successful visit of three youth delegates to the UN General Assembly in September 2005 (click here for more details), UNYSA again partnered with the FCO in 2006 and 2007 to ensure that young people’s voices are heard within the UN.

Working with UNYSA, the FCO agreed to send a UK youth delegate to the UN Commission for Social Development taking place in New York in February 2007. The focus of this session of the Commission was on ‘decent work for all’, with an emphasis on youth employment. For more information on the Commission, click here.

the selection

Over 130 excellent candidates responded to advertisements placed in the national press. Five of these were interviewed at the FCO by representatives of the FCO and UNA-UK. Each candidate had extensive experience of youth work, and of the UN (as did many of the candidates who were not short-listed) and Natalie Wease was chosen to be the UK ’s delegate.

the candidate

Natalie is 23, lives in Glasgow and is a postgraduate Law student and part-time undergraduate Jurisprudence tutor. She has a First Class degree in Law with French from the University of Glasgow and has studied in France . Natalie has experience of youth work with the British Red Cross, Council of Europe and the European Parliament. She is a member of UNYSA and volunteers on a programme to increase participation in higher education among students living in areas of significant unemployment.

For more information on Natalie’s work at the Commission for Social Development, see her articles in Newer World :Newer World January-March 2007 and Newer World April-June 2007