M.D.G. Campaign
The Campaign continues...
Also as part of the campaign, a group of young people visited New York in the U.S. in November 2007 to present the lobbying document to the United Nations, the Permanent Irish Mission among other appropriate organisations and engaged in a public education campaign with other schools in the city. The objective of our lobbying visit to New York was to support young to begin to understand and engage with the UN system, and to highlight and demand for action on the Millennium Development Goals.
The 12 young people from Ireland summarised their expectations for the lobbying visit to the UN in New York:
- To learn about the MDGs - the whys, the hows, the issues and the problems - 'the MDGs don't seem to get the respect needed to achieve them and I want other people to consider why'
- To learn how to lobby more effectively - 'to try to understand how governments and people in power treat these sorts of issues on an international level' -'to find out more about politics behind the decision making process'
- To meet new people, hear new ideas - 'so that we can all benefit - ourselves and our schools'
- To speak up for what I believe in and to start a new interest in Justice and Peace for our generation
- To educate myself and others
- To bring back information etc. and share it with people in our school and locality, and hopefully get others involved
- To have gained much more insight into how young people view the world and their place in it
- To have an enjoyable, interesting and memorable experience - 'I hope that it will provide me with the capacity and experience to move further with this subject and to work forward towards making some kind of difference'
- Be a part of a bigger picture in educating young people in Ireland
- To meet people with a similar interest in Human Rights issues and see how they deal with them
- Have a positive impact with our visits to New York schools