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“If you, young people, do not stand together, if you do not work together, if you do not do better than your preceding generations, the world we live in will not get better.” 

From 7 to 11 August 2016, 60 students coming from China, Japan, and Korea gathered at APCEIU to participate in the ‘China-Japan-Korea Global Citizenship Education Youth Forum 2016’. During these five days, the students discussed the role youth play in enhancing trilateral cooperation for a peaceful co-existence and sustainable future in the region and beyond. 

During the congratulatory remarks, Dr. Marielza Oliveira, Director of the UNESCO Beijing Office, emphasized the positive effects that youth can bring to the world acknowledging their greater role and responsibility in solving many global issues while building a peaceful and sustainable future. In addition during his keynote speech, Prof. Chung-in Moon, Distinguished Professor (Emeritus) of Yonsei University, suggested global citizenship as a valid alternative for young people to move forward beyond the limitations of nationalism. He advised them, saying “Be aware of what is going on in the world. Have empathy. Take actions.” 

Students participated in various sessions including lectures, titled ‘Global Citizenship and the Role of Youth in Northeast Asia’, ‘Youth Leadership for Better Community’, ‘Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Asian Youth’ and later also participating in workshops and dialogues. Especially in the CJK Youth Dialogue session, students had a chance to think deeply about what global citizenship means and discuss it with their peers. 

Through the Panel Talk session, students had an opportunity to interact with three young professionals from the three different countries that are actively working in diverse fields. The three speakers were Ms. Yifan Ling from China, who is a popular webtoon artist, Ms. Misaki Iwai, Community & Entrepreneurship Programme Manager at Impact Hub Tokyo (a social enterprise that empowers novice entrepreneurs), and Mr. Gilrok Daniel Do, Chief Operating Officer at Ecube Lab (a rising company in the global waste management market). These three speakers shared their personal stories on how they decided  to pursue their current career paths and work, enlightening students on the diverse ways to pursue career paths and explore contributions for a better future for  the world through profession. Students learned that they could act as a global citizen in any of their fields and also discovered ways to initiate various projects as youth leaders.

A field-visit was arranged according to topics of their interest. The six sites selected were UN ESCAP (Sub-regional Office for East and NorthEast Asia), Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat, National Human Rights Commission in Korea, Haja Centre, Root Impact, and Incheon Open Port. By hearing from presentations and interviews given by professionals at each site, students were able to clear questions in each field and deepen their understanding on major issues around each respective field. 

To cap off their experiences from the five days, students created and shared their action plans by group. Groups that visited UN ESCAP, Root Impact and National Human Rights Commission proposed an easily accessible online platform where youth of diverse nationalities could share ideas and build up discussions on topics such as sustainable environment, vocational training and education, and gender equality. The group that visited the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat also designed an online platform where youth from the three countries could freely share viewpoints about the economy, environment, and education as well as share culture and make friends. Participants who visited the Incheon Open Port planned a volunteer tour guiding program for foreign students studying outside their home country. The Haja Centre group designed a project called “Drop-outs Help-outs” that would help high school dropouts by providing a global pen pal service and helping them to find job opportunities. 

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China-Japan-Korea College Students Seek Better Future through Global Citizenship > APCEIU News - APCEIU (unescoapceiu.org)