HON. LAISENIA TUITUBOU
Minister for Youth and Sports

• The Chancellor University of Fiji, Brigadier-General Ratu Epeli Nailatikau
• The Pro-Chancellor, Mr. Anil Tikaram
• The Vice Chancellor of the University of Fiji, Mr. Prem Misir
• The Council of the University of Fiji
• Members of the Diplomatic Corps
• Government Officials and representatives
• Respected Dignitaries
• Professors and lecturers
• Parents
• Graduands
• Invited Guests
• Ladies and Gentlemen
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Bula vinaka, Namaste and Salam Aleikum and a very good morning to you all.

It is indeed a pleasure to be here this morning, on World AIDS Day, and to address you at one of the highlights on your University calendar. Perhaps it is one of the life-time highlights in the calendar of each graduand here today.

I have been invited to speak to you on young people and the relevance of their empowerment, and wellbeing towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

For many parents here in the audience, proud of your achievements as graduands, there is one thing at the back of our minds.

That is that the most important thing in life that we can give our children is an education.

This is why this Government has been clear in providing free education for early childhood, primary and secondary education.

We have provided financial support for those going on to tertiary education.

For those who, for various reasons, do not continue their secondary or tertiary education, we provide support through our non-formal education systems.

Why do we do this?

For exactly the same reason – we need to provide free education to ensure we have educated young citizens who are ready and able to take up the challenges we face today and tomorrow.

We need people with doctorates who can help to drive innovation and creativity.

We need managers, engineers, accountants, lawyers as well as medical practitioners, scientists, IT experts.

We need people who are plumbers and electricians; who are carpenters, tilers and construction workers.

We need tour guides, chefs and drivers for our luxury coaches for our tourism industry.

We need a broad mix of people who will help our economy grow; who will pay tax so we can grow the safety net for those who are not as fortunate.

We need people who will be entrepreneurs and create jobs for our fellow Fijians.

Dare I say it but we also need more men and women to come forward to play sport on a professional level so that next time, our Bati make it to the finals.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we need to ensure that we continue to create an inclusive economy so that more women and persons with disabilities take up their rightful place, side by side with us all, pushing and pulling in the same direction.

This is why education, both formal and informal, is so important to each individual Fijian and to us as a collective.

Ladies and Gentlemen, today’s generation of young people is the largest the world has ever known.

One in every three people today is under the age of 30. Around 90% of young people are living in developing countries, mainly Asia and Africa.

According to an International Monetary Fund forecast, by 2035, the number of people in Sub–Saharan Africa joining the working age population (ages 15 to 64) will exceed that from the rest of the world combined – including China and India.

The migration from Africa across the Mediterranean to Europe are many youth seeking opportunities because there are no prospects at home.

This is a development challenge: large development investments are needed in the countries from which migrants are leaving, and for that, international solidarity is required.

Similar statistics are also recorded in Fiji.

The National Employment Centre under the Ministry of Employment, Productivity and International Relations records over a 1,000 job seekers on an annual basis most of whom are young graduates or youths that have migrated to urban centres seeking employment.

The challenges faced by youths include inequality, which is growing in many countries and the fact that many people still live in extreme poverty.

Other challenges include development of youth being marred by protracted conflicts, the devastating impact of natural disasters and global environment challenges, including the cost of climate change are also mounting.

All these challenges call for creative and coordinated approaches to build a peaceful and sustainable world.

Graduands, you as young people will play a major role in shaping our country and world and how we adapt to these challenges.

Remember, your generation and ours can eradicate extreme poverty and prevent catastrophic climate change.

Yet, too often, young people around the world are prevented from fulfilling their potential as the change agents and social entrepreneurs we need. This may be because globally youth:

• Are disproportionately unemployed. In 2014, around 73 million working-age young people around the world were unemployed – out of the overall 200 million estimated to be unemployed;

• In many places, lack access to quality and affordable education and skills training which helps them get jobs or create livelihoods and improve their lives;

• Often struggle to have their voice heard in systems of political representation dominated by those who are much older;

• Young women, girls, LGBTIQ and those living with HIV and AIDS face discrimination and experience inequalities and exclusion;

• One-third of young people live in countries which have relatively recently suffered or are suffering violent conflicts.

Then, when young people do make positive contributions to change in their communities or societies, their efforts may go unrecognised, or are undervalued.

The development, in 2015, of Agenda 2030 include 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets. It is universal covering economic, social, environmental issues and iaddresses the many challenges faced by the global youth sector.

Key elements of Agenda 2030 include the commitments to:
• Promote peaceful and inclusive societies which provide access to justice for all, and build effective and inclusive institutions at all levels.

The inclusion of this Goal recognises the link between achieving sustainable development and peace. The preamble of the 2030 Agenda itself notes that “there can be no sustainable development without peace, and no peace without sustainable development”.

Others Goals include to:
• eradicate extreme poverty;
• ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive healthcare services;
• ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational, and tertiary education;
• prevent all forms of violence against women and girls, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation;
• ensure full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities; and
• Create 470 million jobs needed globally for new entrants to the labour market between 2016 and 2030.

You can see that we, in Fiji, are taking up the fight to address these Goals.

The SDG Agenda is reinforced by the outcomes of other major global development-related processes this year, which have also been shaped by youth participation.

We need to empower our youth, through education, to become agents of change, to ensure environmental stability, advocate to mitigate climate change and its consequences.

Albert Einstein, a famous physicist, said: “Education is not the learning of facts but the training of the mind to think”.

In this, we need enquiring minds to ensure that you are the agents of change we require.

We need to consider what we teach as parents - and what we learn as children.

We need to consider whether what we learn is right or wrong – to train ourselves to think and to question – and to change.

In far too many parts of our society, we learn discrimination. When we are born, we do not know how to discriminate – we learn this as we grow up.

A young child who sees his father beating his mother grows up thinking this is “normal” when it is not.

A young child who sees her mother apologising for making her spouse angry so that he beats her grows up thinking this is “normal” when clearly it is not.

If we look at our Constitution, we see that we are enjoined not to discriminate.

So if we are trained to think, we will quickly teach ourselves the “real normal” – that violence in any form is not acceptable; that violence against vulnerable people is even more disgraceful – violence against women, children and persons with disabilities.

When we think, we recognise that all Fijians are equal; each with a different but equally important contribution to make to our society. All with equal rights made explicit in our Constitution.

Women are equal to men but we need to work harder to change the narrative which is demonstrated in 67% of our formal economy being men; or women earning less than men for equal work.

The Honorable Prime Minister and Attorney-General have both said clearly that we need to get more women into the economy.

This means that all women need to take up their right to education. Our parents cannot prevent them from that right.

We need to ensure we have more role models who are women; strong women like the Honorable Speaker and the increasing number of women leading in politics, business, the NGO sector.

The same applies to persons with disabilities – we need to ensure that each disabled child gets to school, has access to transport, to education opportunities and to develop their full potential.

This is one of the major challenges facing us as we continue to build that inclusive economy and society to ensure everyone is able to contribute their skills, energy and commitment.

Ladies and Gentlemen, sport and physical activity are also important enablers of sustainable development.

We recognize the growing contribution of sport to the realization of development and peace as it promotes tolerance and respect; it contributes to empowering women, young and old people, individuals and communities as well as to health, education and social inclusion.

Sport develops transferable skills which play a key role in a self-reliant and sustainable life which leads to income-generating activities and economic participation.

Sport, in all its forms, contributes to a respect for rules, to mutual respect of teammates and opponents, to confidence and teamwork.

Sport can help keep young people away from crime, to encourage discipline and fair play.

Sport and physical activity are universally accessible for all and we need to ensure that the older generation is also active on a daily basis.

Fiji has the dubious distinction of being number 2 on the list of countries most affected by non-communicable diseases, including obesity, heart disease and cancer.

Increasing physical activity and improving our nutrition can help to reduce NCDs dramatically – NCDs which cost our economy between $200 and R400 million a year according to a recent report by the United Nations Development Program.

77% of Fijians are dying as a result of NCDs – and NCDs are preventable which is what makes it so tragic for the families affected.

With one amputation every eight hours, mostly as a result of NCDs, the impact on the individuals, families and ultimately the economy is enormous.

If each one of us improves our lifestyles by reducing our intake of salt, fatty and deep fried food and, of course, the size of our portions, we will all contribute to reducing the cost of NCDs to our economy.

If we combine this with increased physical activity each day, we will not only help to reduce NCDs but we will improve our mental and physical health, our productivity and thus our contribution to the economy.

Ladies and Gentlemen, our Prime Minister, Honourable Voreqe Bainimarama, has successfully taken up the presidency to the COP23. Building on the talanoa approach shared with the world in Bonn, there is an ongoing opportunity for you to raise your concerns about climate change locally and internationally.

Remember, you all are the voices of tomorrow and voices of our future. You will play a key role in determining our global sustainability.

Take full advantage of the provisions made available to you and recognise the potential you all have. We need unity built on our diversity to address the challenges I have highlighted today.

Over many years in public life in Fiji, including being Commissioner Central, being in the RFMF and now in my position as a Minister, I have seen how young people’s incredible drive and commitment can change things for the better.

On a daily basis, young people show their power for transformational change.

Involving young women and men as partners in the implementation of Agenda 2030 is both a right in itself and an important condition for the success of the Agenda over the next 13 years. Young people’s energy, your energy, must be harnessed to ensure its effective implementation.

It is thus my humble plea that you continue to train yourselves to think, to consider alternatives and new ways of doing things, to be empowered, to participate and voice your opinion in the many forums available to you.

You are young, you are empowered with knowledge and the training to think, I hope you are healthy, and you can take hands to address the SDGs as we work to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

As Malcolm X said and I quote “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.”

In conclusion, I wish you all the best in your future endeavours and congratulate you on your achievements.

Vinaka, dhanyabaad, Shokran and thank you all.