The Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens is a Quasi-International Organization based in Vienna, Austria. The Centre was established in January 2018 and is co-chaired by Ban Ki-moon, 8th Secretary-General of the UN (2007 – 2016) and by Heinz Fischer, 11th President of the Republic of Austria (2004 – 2016).

The Ban Ki-moon Centre empowers women and youth to live in a peaceful and prosperous world. We strive for a world based on universal respect for human rights, regardless of age, gender, identity, religion, and nationality, where sustainable development is achieved through global citizenship in shared responsibility, understanding and empathy. The Centre uses its expertise and network to work for peace, poverty eradication, empowerment of youth and women, justice and human rights worldwide.

Half the world is women. All around the world, in every country, women and girls still struggle to exercise their full human rights. Women are particularly vulnerable in times of global crises. In many developing countries, primary, secondary and tertiary education for girls remains an acute challenge. There is no gender equality yet in matters of access to education, professional opportunities, pay and public representation. Women remain underrepresented in top positions.

Violence against women and girls is perhaps the most obvious manifestation of the deep imbalances in power in our societies. Empowering women and girls means understanding and addressing these effects holistically.

Inadequate facilities at schools force millions of girls around the world to miss class during menstruation. It’s estimated that more than half of schools in low-income countries lack sufficient toilets for girls or are unsafe and unclean. Worldwide, 1 in 3 women have experienced physical or sexual violence—most often by an intimate partner. Nearly 750 million women and girls alive today were married before their 18th birthday, and over 200 million have suffered female genital mutilation. More than 70 per cent of all trafficking victims worldwide are women and girls, and 3 out of 4 trafficked women and girls are sexually exploited. This must end.

Access to quality education and skills training has never been so important to ensuring a future of dignity for all women around the world.

Half the world is under 27 years of age. Today, the world is home to the largest generation of youth in history, with 1.8 billion worldwide. This generation is one of the greatest determinants of whether or not the Sustainable Development Goals will be achieved, and a climate crisis can be avoided.

One out of five people globally are between the ages of 15 and 24. Nearly 90 percent of the global youth live in developing countries, nearly one billion in Asia and Africa.

Global crises are hitting young people especially hard. Hundreds of millions of young people are directly affected by conflict. Today, over 71 million young people are unemployed, with around 40 per cent of the world’s active youth population either unemployed or living in poverty despite working. Unemployment breeds dissatisfaction and can also lead in extreme cases to violent radicalism. Youth represent 25% of the total working age population and globally, almost one in 7 youth are looking for work.

Road accidents are the biggest killer of young people over the age of 10 worldwide. More than 1,25 million people die each year as a result of road traffic crashes. Road traffic injuries are a leading cause of death among people aged between 15 and 29 years. 90% of world´s fatalities on the roads occur in low and middle-income countries.

Decreasing youth mortality, supporting education and youth entrepreneurship and raising awareness for global citizenship and climate action issues, are important measures to support solutions to today´s global challenges. Young people, women and men, of all cultures can make a significant contribution to society by looking beyond the narrow scope of personal or national interest to act as global citizens.