K-pop superstars and UNICEF global supporters BTS will join world leaders including United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in launching a global initiative for the youth at the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly.
BTS have raised over $1 million for the Love Myself campaign (Big Hit Entertainment)
The new partnership, called Generation Unlimited, aims to get every young person into quality education, training or employment by 2030, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
UNICEF has announced the list of global, business, education and youth leaders that will launch the new program on Sept. 24 at the UN headquarters in New York City.
At the launching, BTS will join UN Secretary-General Guterres; Paul Kagame, president of Rwanda; Jim Yong Kim, World Bank Group president; Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, European Union; Henrietta Fore, UNICEF executive director; Jayathma Wickramanayake, United Nations Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth; Unilever CEO Paul Polman; and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Lilly Singh.
BTS underscored the importance of spreading love to others.
“In our LOVE MYSELF campaign, we talk about the meaning of true love. We encourage every young person to find the love from within themselves and spread that love to others. We think the mutual support from youth to each other is the first step to show love,” said BTS.
BTS and Big Hit Entertainment forged an agreement with the Korean Committee for UNICEF last November for the Love Myself campaign, seeking to sponsor the #ENDviolence campaign, a global UNICEF initiative to ensure that children and teens are safe without any fear of violence.
As of June this year, the Love Myself campaign has raised over US$1 million.
UNICEF said the global population of adolescents and young people will reach 2 billion by 2030 and without investment in education and skills training, they will be unprepared for future workforce.
Secretary-General António Guterres addresses the UN General Assembly on Sept. 18 (Photo courtesy of UN Photo/Loey Felipe)
Generation Unlimited will become part of the UN Secretary-General’s Youth 2030 Strategy and will focus on three key areas: secondary-age education; skills for learning, employability and decent work; and empowerment.
“The world is home to the largest generation of young people ever – 1.8 billion. Sustainable development, human rights, peace and security can only be achieved if we empower these young people as leaders, and enable them to unleash their full potential,” said Guterres.
According to UNICEF chief Fore, “Young people may represent 25 percent of the global population, but they account for 100 percent of the future. We cannot afford to fail them.”
The high-level UN event will be live streamed at http://webtv.un.org.