Young Thai Leaders on What it Takes to Make Their Voices Count
A hotter climate, a faster digital economy and widening inequality. Billions already feel the strain. Thailand is no different. Choices made today will shape the lives of youth and future generations. Yet the people with the most at stake often have the least say.
Adopted in September 2024, the UN’s Pact for the Future seeks to correct this imbalance by placing young people at the centre of decision-making, not as symbols of hope, but as co-authors of a future they will inherit. Its emphasis on youth forms part of a broader effort to strengthen international cooperation and make the global system more inclusive, effective and responsive to modern challenges.
As Thailand and the United Nations mark 80 years of partnership, the anniversary is an opportunity to look forward. More than 400 young people joined Member States, Government officials, civil society, academics and businesses on 22 June for a national dialogue co-hosted by Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United Nations.
The UN was represented by Resident Coordinator Michaela Friberg-Storey and Themba Kalua, Director for Pact for the Future Implementation in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General.
Turning the Pact's ambitions into meaningful results, Ms. Friberg-Storey said, would depend on "strong partnerships across society, driven by the energy, creativity and leadership of young people."
"Young people are here now, and their voices, ideas and leadership must be part of the decisions shaping their lives and the future of our societies," Mr. Kalua added.
Making the Pact work for future generations
For Rattanachart Paengkum, Assistant President of the Children and Youth Council of Thailand, the priority is not inventing new institutions but bolstering those already in place.
Thailand already has one of Southeast Asia's most extensive youth representation systems, with elected councils in all 77 provinces mandated to carry young people's views on the environment, children's rights and social issues into local and national policymaking.
In practice, he argues, it can do more.
"Built in silence, heard by the world. That is how I see youth participation today," he says. "We already have this mechanism, which could be one of the strongest in Southeast Asia. The task now is to strengthen it and make it genuinely participatory again."
The Council's recent work shows how. With support from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), it surveyed more than 21,000 young people to set priorities for a long-term youth strategy, then turned those findings into a national action plan validated by 130 youth representatives from across the country. The UN supported Thailand in making its engagement mechanism work as intended, delivering on the Pact's commitment to meaningful youth participation.
Rattanachart's advice is simple: every cause starts somewhere. If you never begin, the outcome is already decided.
Soonyata Panurat, who represented Thailand at this year's ECOSOC Youth Forum in New York, believes the Pact's success will ultimately depend on trust.
"Young people are living the challenges policymakers are trying to solve. Giving us a platform to speak is only the beginning. If nothing follows, nothing changes. Policies should be co-designed with young people, not presented to us after decisions have already been made."
The UN is working to create the inclusive spaces that forge the trust Soonyata calls for. His participation in the ECOSOC Youth Forum reflects this broader effort to bring more young voices into international conversations.
Chairat Dipho, who grew up in Omkoi District in Chiang Mai Province before representing ethnic minority youth at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, sees access to resources as the foundation of equal partnership.
"Resources are not only funding. They are knowledge, mentors and opportunities that allow young people to take action," he says. "Young people are not only future leaders. We are stakeholders and equal partners. When we are seen that way, change can begin locally and reach the global stage."
Representation does not end with a seat at the table. It starts there and depends on leaders’ willingness to listen and act.
A future for all youth
The key to adequate representation, however, is ensuring that participation reflects the breadth of backgrounds among Thailand’s youth, especially Indigenous communities.
Marisa Yapangku, President of the Indigenous Youth Seed Network of Thailand, says Indigenous communities bring valuable knowledge of forests, seeds and community resilience, with young women leading that work.
"As Indigenous young women, we face barriers because of both our ethnicity and our gender," she says. "Even when we reach decision-making spaces, our ideas are often overlooked. Decision makers cannot understand our solutions if they have never heard the realities our communities face."
Her point is not about access alone, but about access leading to action.
"We do not come as mercy receivers. We come to move forward together."
Panwasa Srikuna, who grew up with a visual impairment, says making young people's voices count means guaranteeing everyone can even take part in the first place.
"When I was in secondary school, I depended on volunteers to read textbooks to me. Today, AI can summarise information and support my learning directly," she says. "Technology is transforming what is possible for young people with disabilities. The challenge is ensuring our institutions evolve just as quickly."
The Pact for the Future and its Global Digital Compact annex recognise this need by promoting affordable assistive technologies and accessible AI, creating new opportunities for education, skills development and tailored learning.
Nattanicha Kattiyavara, adviser to the UN Youth Office and founder of The Burnout Advocate Initiative, says inclusion depends on participation being personally sustainable.
"Young advocates are often expected to be endlessly resilient," she says. "But feeling anxious, exhausted or burnt out is not a failure. It often reflects how deeply people care. If we want lasting social change, we must also build systems that support the well-being of those creating it."
By amplifying perspectives from underrepresented communities, the Pact seeks to ensure that inclusion reaches all young people — not only by age, but across gender, disability, ethnicity and lived experience.
What the dialogue delivered
Taken together, the voices at the UN 80 dialogue called for a shift from consultation to co-design and from involvement to genuine influence. The event closed with three priorities for implementing the Pact in Thailand.
- Institutionalise meaningful youth engagement: Strengthen existing mechanisms, including the Children and Youth Council of Thailand and UN youth advisory structures, so regular engagement with young people becomes part of national governance.
- Localise access and close the digital divide: Bring participation closer to young people in language, location and format, while expanding affordable assistive technologies and accessible AI in line with the Global Digital Compact.
- Sustain participation: Recognise personal well-being and the protection of civic space as essential to long-term youth engagement.
The Pact provides a framework for accountability. The dialogue demonstrated Thailand's commitment to putting it into practice.
The conversation does not end with a single event. It continues in classrooms, communities, Government institutions and international forums where young people are already driving change.
By investing in their ideas, trusting their leadership and removing barriers to participation, Thailand and the United Nations can turn the Pact's ambitions into lasting progress, not only for today's youth, but for generations to come.
Please visit the UN team's website for more information about the UN's work in Thailand.
