One Young World, known by many as the ‘junior Davos’ held its ninth annual summit last month, in the international city of justice, The Hague.
This year’s event brought together the most delegates in the summit’s history, 1,800 from more than 190 countries.
From the opening ceremony on October 17 at the city’s Peace Palace – officially opened by Queen Maxima of The Netherlands – through to the close three days later, constant inspiration was provided from every speaker to those watching on. The summit addressed the most important issues facing the world today; human rights, sexual violence, climate change, poverty, education, diversity and more.
Hosting proceedings throughout were One Young World co-founders Kate Robertson and David Jones, and the first full summit day began with former British Prime Minister Sir John Major in discussion with four winners of One Young World’s inaugural ‘Young Politician of the Year’ award.
Keynote addresses from Sir Bob Geldof and Amber Heard preceded vital sessions on the refugee crisis and preventing child exploitation, before the initiative ‘Young Leaders Against Sexual Violence’ was launched by abuse survivors, and the actor and activist Rosario Dawson.
Former Nobel Peace Prize laureate Tawakkol Karman closed the day’s proceedings, after Gordon Brown paid tribute to the late Kofi Annan – former secretary general of the UN and long-time One Young World Counsellor.
On the Friday, the theme of purpose-led business took centre stage, with co-founder of Twitter Biz Stone and musician Akon particular stand-out speakers. The latter spoke about his venture Akon Lighting Africa which is providing solar power to African countries, and his ‘Crypto city’ in Senegal, which will trade exclusively in his own digital currency – AKoin – with the ultimate goal of stabilising Africa’s economy.
With a focus on climate change, the final day of the summit included speakers such as former Irish president Mary Robinson, actor Terry Crews, architect of the Paris Agreement Christina Figueres, and former Dutch international footballer Clarence Seedorf.
Finally, Saturday evening saw the baton passed to London during the One Young World closing ceremony, with Naomi Campbell speaking about the importance of taking the summit back to its original home for its tenth anniversary.
Find out more about One Young World here