The new top youth official at the UN talks about what's in it for young people

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The new top youth official at the UN talks about what's in it for young people

2024-09-28 20:52 Last Updated At：21:01

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Dr. Felipe Paullier is quick to say he doesn't speak for the world's roughly 2 billion tweens, teens and young adults. But as the United Nations' first assistant secretary-general for youth affairs, he's tasked with advocating for young people and their concerns to be incorporated into the organization's work — a goal shared by young activists who don't always feel heard by the international community. Paullier, a pediatrician and former director general of Uruguay's National Youth Institute, started in in the job in December. He sat down with The Associated Press on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly this week to talk about his role, the U.N.'s new “ Pact for the Future,” what it means for young people — and whether their elders really mean it about including them.

Here are excerpts from the interview, edited for length and clarity.

AP: Given the subject, let's start with this: How old are you?

PAULLIER: I'm 33. When I started, I was 32. I'm getting old.

AP: Your role is very new.

PAULLIER: You know, the U.N. has been an organization championing the youth agenda for many, many decades. But in terms of really putting this at the global level and as a priority, I think this is a bit more recent. ...My role is not about representing the youth voices — because young people are too diverse to be represented by one person. But at the same time, I think the office is a testament to the recognition of youth at the global level. I think that’s our role.

AP: What did the recent U.N. Summit of the Future and “Pact for the Future” add to the picture?

PAULLIER: I think there are two concrete commitment outcomes of this summit. Now, it’s always about these commitments being put into actions. But one is about governments committing to implement, at the national level, youth engagement mechanisms. And I think that’s a very important and very crucial point. And the second one is, at the global level, this idea of having a process to have common principles about meaningful youth participation. Because this is a relatively new concept. Ten or 15 years ago, you know, young people were just seen as beneficiaries of policies. And now I think the summit, the establishment of the office, there are many things changing that are showing institutions, decision-makers, are saying, "OK, we need to engage with them as partners."

AP: At a leadup event for the summit, one young activist was quite frank about saying that it’s not just a matter of being invited to attend or speak at events — it's a matter of actually being heard and seeing something come out of it. How do you encourage young people to take the U.N. at its word that it wants to include them in a way that’s meaningful?

PAULLIER: You know, I think this is a challenge of every traditional institution. And I'm saying “traditionally” because our institutions were established in a different world. It’s true that in the last 10 or 15 years, the world has changed dramatically. Technology has brought to people a lot of power, and this is transforming the accountability systems, the way that people can organize themselves, express themselves, mobilize. That's something very positive. But at the same time, institutions need to align to these transformations.... So I think that the summit is essentially the recognition that this needs to be transformed.

As an office, our role is that we push for changes for happen. And let's not see this only in the negative way of thinking. I tend to believe that these commitments from governments are a testament that they have willingness to really advance in this direction.

AP: Do you feel like the goals of young people who want this change are realistic?

PAULLIER: Completely.

See more of AP’s coverage of the U.N. General Assembly at https://apnews.com/hub/united-nations

Dozens dead and millions without power after Helene's deadly march across southeastern US

2024-09-28 20:55 Last Updated At：21:00

PERRY, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Helene caused dozens of deaths and billions of dollars of destruction across a wide swath of the southeastern U.S. as it raced through, and more than 3 million customers went into the weekend without any power and for some a continued threat of floods.

Helene blew ashore in Florida's Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane late Thursday packing winds of 140 mph (225 kph) and then quickly moved through Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee, uprooting trees, splintering homes and sending creeks and rivers over their banks and straining dams.

Western North Carolina was essentially cut off because or landslides and flooding that forced the closure of Interstate 40 and other roads. There were hundreds of water rescues, none more dramatic than in rural Unicoi County in East Tennessee, where dozens of patients and staff were plucked by helicopter from the roof of a hospital that was surrounded by water from a flooded river.

The storm, now a post-tropical cyclone, was expected to hover over the Tennessee Valley on Saturday and Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said. Several flood and flash flood warnings remained in effect in parts of the southern and central Appalachians, while high wind warnings also covered parts of Tennessee and Ohio.

Among the at least 44 people killed in the storm were three firefighters, a woman and her 1-month-old twins, and an 89-year-old woman whose house was struck by a falling tree. According to an Associated Press tally, the deaths occurred in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

When the water hit knee-level in Kera O’Neil’s home in Hudson, Florida, she knew it was time to escape.

“There’s a moment where you are thinking, ‘If this water rises above the level of the stove, we are not going to have not much room to breathe,’” she said, recalling how she and her sister waded through chest-deep water with one cat in a plastic carrier and another in a cardboard box.

In North Carolina, a lake featured in the movie “Dirty Dancing” overtopped a dam and surrounding neighborhoods were evacuated, although there were no immediate concerns it would fail. People also were evacuated from Newport, Tennessee, a city of about 7,000 people, amid concerns about a dam near there, although officials later said the structure had not failed.

Tornadoes hit some areas, including one in Nash County, North Carolina, that critically injured four people.

Atlanta received a record 11.12 inches (28.24 centimeters) of rain in 48 hours, the most the city has seen in a two-day period since record keeping began in 1878, Georgia’s Office of the State Climatologist said on the social platform X. Some neighborhoods were so badly flooded that only car roofs could be seen poking above the water.

Moody’s Analytics said it expects $15 billion to $26 billion in property damage.

Climate change has exacerbated conditions that allow such storms to thrive, rapidly intensifying in warming waters and turning into powerful cyclones sometimes in a matter of hours.

Florida's Big Bend is a part of the state where salt marshes and pine flatwoods stretch into the horizon, and where the condo developments and strip malls that have carved up so much of the state's coastlines are largely absent.

It’s a place where Susan Sauls Hartway and her 4-year-old Chihuahua mix Lucy could afford to live within walking distance of the beach on her salary as a housekeeper.

At least, until her house was carried away by Helene.

Friday afternoon, Hartway wandered around her street near Ezell Beach, searching for where the storm may have deposited her home.

“It’s gone. I don’t know where it’s at. I can’t find it,” she said of her house.

Born and raised in rural Taylor County, Hartway said there is nowhere in the world she would rather be, even after Helene. But she’s watched as wealthier residents from out of state have bought up second homes here. She wonders how many of them will sell out — and what will happen to the locals who have nowhere else to go.

“There’s so many people down here, they don’t have any place to go now. This was all they had,” she said.

The community has taken direct hits from three hurricanes since August 2023.

All five who died in one Florida county were in neighborhoods where residents were told to evacuate, said Bob Gualtieri, the sheriff in Pinellas County in the St. Petersburg area. Some who stayed ended up having to hide in their attics to escape the rising water. He said the death toll could rise as crews go door-to-door in flooded areas.

More deaths were reported in Georgia and the Carolinas, including two South Carolina firefighters and a Georgia firefighter who died when trees struck their trucks. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin reported at least one death in his state.

President Joe Biden said he was praying for survivors, and the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency headed to the area. The agency deployed more than 1,500 workers, and they helped with 400 rescues by late Friday morning.

Officials urged people who were trapped to call for rescuers and not tread floodwaters, warning they can be dangerous due to live wires, sewage, sharp objects and other debris.

In Georgia, an electrical utility group warned of “catastrophic” damage to utility infrastructure, with more than 100 high voltage transmission lines damaged. And officials in South Carolina, where more than 40% of customers were without power, said crews had to cut their way through debris just to determine what was still standing in some places.

The hurricane came ashore near the mouth of the Aucilla River, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) northwest of where Hurricane Idalia hit last year at nearly the same ferocity. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the damage from Helene appears to be greater than the combined effects of Idalia and Hurricane Debby in August.

The destruction extended far beyond Florida.

A mudslide in the Appalachian Mountains washed out part of an interstate highway at the North Carolina-Tennessee state line.

Another slide hit homes in North Carolina and occupants had to wait more than four hours to be rescued, said Ryan Cole, the emergency services assistant director in Buncombe County. His 911 center received more than 3,300 calls in eight hours Friday.

“This is something that we’re going to be dealing with for many days and weeks to come,” Cole said.

Forecasters warned of flooding in North Carolina that could be worse than anything seen in the past century. The Connecticut Army National Guard sent a helicopter to help.

Helene was the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an above-average season this year because of record-warm ocean temperatures.

Payne reported from Tallahassee, Florida, and Hollingsworth reported from Kansas City, Missouri. Associated Press journalists Seth Borenstein in New York; Jeff Amy in Atlanta; Russ Bynum in Valdosta, Georgia; Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Andrea Rodríguez in Havana; Mark Stevenson and María Verza in Mexico City; and Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon, contributed.