First of all I would like to say that Norway welcomes the UN initiative on the first ever Global Youth Leadership Summit. It is about time that youth are lifted up and made visible as important agents on the international agenda.

Norway also welcomes the opportunity of this Special Forum - to share ideas and experiences on youth and migration. We are grateful to The Norwegian Youth Council and the UN Youth Representatives for taking the initiative to this event devoted to this very important topic.

We are also grateful to the UNFPA for their engagement and advocacy on youth and migration during the High Level Dialogue on international migration and development here in New York last month. It is Norway’s hope that this event today will contribute to further awareness of this topic.

I am especially glad that there are so many young adults here today. As a young adult myself – I still like to call myself that - I have personally experienced how participation in both national and international decision-making processes is not only possible, but is essential for good decision-making.

For many years I have been a political youth activist, 3 years ago I was actually also a youth representative to the UN, and now as a political advisor for the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, which is my present position, I can really say that we need young voices, perspectives and participation to broaden our knowledge as basis for action.

Without your participation, without the engagement of civil society actors, we can hardly address the range of challenges and opportunities that youth, migration and development represent.

Why is the topic of migration important for young people?

There are several reasons for that, but I believe the overall answer to that question is that it is a worldwide challenge. A challenge that we all face –right now –no matter where we live.

Last year, there were more than 200 million international migrants. In 1960 there were 75 million. Only 5 per cent of these are refugees.

I would argue that migration is one of the biggest challenges that face our generation – it has and will continue to have a huge impact on our lives as individuals, and on national, regional and international policies.

There is no reason to believe that the number of migrants will decrease in the years to come.

I think every generation has had a feeling that the world has become smaller, compared to the generations before them. This is definitely true with our generation. We really live in the era of globalization.

Globalization is not just another buzz-word. It affects us. Through information and communication technologies young people in every corner of the world can learn about each others ideas and life-situations.

Through infrastructure and communication we can travel and move in a faster and cheaper way than ever before. It affects us also in another way. It affects our dreams and hopes for the future.

8 out of 10 youths ^{1From World Development Report 2007: Development and the Next Generation. The numbers used are: 1.3 billion youths are from developing countries out of a total of 1.5 billion youths worldwide (Ages 12-24).<br >}> worldwide are from developing countries, this produces a “bulge” in the world’s population structure. This uneven distribution of youth worldwide calls for cooperation and integration between developing and developed countries.

The high number of youths is a huge comparative advantage for the developing countries. The developed countries, on their side, have other advantages. Nevertheless, the situation has immense implications on youths and migration processes.

In this context, a young person’s wish to have a different life – a better life – is legitimate. It is legitimate to want to follow your dream of better opportunities.

But although many leave their home country in search of work and a better life for themselves and their family, we do know that others are forced to migrate.

Therefore it is important to emphasize that the decision to migrate should be based on a real choice, and not out of need and distress.

It is important to raise the questions: How does migration affect youth? And how do youths affect migration? How many feel that they have a real choice? Our knowledge on the “how’s” and “why’s” and “in what way’s” is still poor, our gathering here today is the first step in the right direction of our common learning.

But even though there is a need for better understanding we do have some knowledge of the opportunities and challenges.

Some of the really tough challenges we face are indecent work, violence, crime, lack of citizenship, premature and forced marriage. Young migrants can be a vulnerable group. We face the terrible challenge of human trafficking. The ILO has estimated that 2, 5 million women, children and youth are victims of human trafficking.

Only in Europe it is to believe that between 300 000 – 500 000 women and children each year enters the prostitution-market. We know that many of these are migrants –that were seeking better opportunities – but became victims of trafficking. These challenges must all be addressed, and has a high priority in the Norwegian government.

But in spite of this, and without underestimating the challenges migration represents, Norway believes it is crucial to have a positive approach to migration.

Migrating youth represent great opportunities in the countries of destination and transit and also in the receiving countries.

Being from a partly receiving country myself I can say that Norway benefits a lot from migration, not only in an economic way, but in a social and cultural way.

It is fantastic to live in a multicultural society. It makes Norway an even better and more interesting place to live. This –the multicultural societies –is a welcomed effect of migration. At the same time the meeting of cultures can also cause conflict. It is important to make sure that both the majority population and the minorities are included in the dialogue of how their society is going to be. Youth have an important part to play in this dialogue.

Young people are also flexible and in a good position to take advantage of the opportunities that arise from migration. Young migrants make sure that young people in other parts of the world learn about their background.

And very important -Young people – in migration – can contribute to reaching the Millennium Development Goals, the eradication of poverty.

We believe that migration can be used as a tool in the fight against poverty if one manages to maximize the positive effects of migration and minimize the negative effects.

The stories and reflections we will hear from Senia and the rest of you will give us some evidence on this matter. Our challenge is to identify the necessary preconditions that can stimulate the positive effects of migration.

And in order to learn about these preconditions we need to make the young people as a group visible.

Norway wants to contribute to this – we want to put youth on the migration and development agenda. Following the recommendations of UNICEF, we believe that we need to make youth in migration visible and promote youths as agents in the fight against poverty.

During the High Level Dialogue on international migration and development, our Minister of International Development Erik Solheim stated that Norway “will highlight the rights of the child and the youth and focus on the protection of migrant children and youths in countries of destination, transit and receiving countries as well”.

Concretely, Norway will work on the mapping of both the positive and negative effects of youth and migration.

In order to address migration and the link to development, and the way youth can engage in this matter, one of the things we believe is important is to make sure that knowledge of the many aspects of migration is accumulated. Today’s event – sharing our experiences and perspectives - is a core example of how we can build our knowledge. And we must all commit ourselves to continue doing that.

We will have a gender sensitive approach. Almost half of all migrants are women and migration implies specific challenges for young men and young women. It is important to be aware of such differences.

Norway will contribute in the ongoing discussion and framing of policy, both on national and international contexts of migration. Our aim is to develop a policy that protects children and youth from the negative effects of migration, but not from migration as such.

We will follow the work of UNICEF and use the Convention on the Rights of the Child as a starting point for the policy formulation. The core principles being non-discrimination, devotion to the best interests of the child and respect for the views of the child.

With regard to development policies, Norway has, and will continue, to put emphasis on the improvement of political and economic conditions in countries of origin.

But stability and growth cannot only be seen in a strictly economic way. Social development is also equally necessary. Therefore we will ensure a broad rights-based approach to development based on Human Rights instruments and ILO Conventions. Young adults, in particular, are often subject to indecent working conditions. Decent working conditions are an important topic for the Norwegian government both nationally and internationally.

Like in most areas of political policymaking, we believe that it is important to include and cooperate with a range of stakeholders on various levels. In particular representatives from the civil society.

Our cooperation with The Norwegian Youth Council (LNU), one of the co-hosts of today’s event, is an example of such an approach. Moreover, we will continue our close cooperation with multilateral stakeholders like UNICEF and UNFPA because global challenges need to be addressed in global forums.

Finally, I want to stress the importance of that we, as young people, step forward and make ourselves visible as a group. Our challenge is to participate and engage in these discussions that are now taking place. Because it is our challenge –and it will continue to be our challenge in the years to come.