“People can tell you to shut up, but they can’t keep you from having an opinion. Even if people are still very young, they should not be prevented from saying what they think.” (Anne Frank)

In 1999, the General Assembly of the United Nations decided to mark 12 August as International Youth Day, highlighting youth issues and celebrating their potential as equal partners in today’s global society.

The International Youth Day aims to raise the awareness of the wider community about legal, economic, social, educational, cultural and all other issues faced by the young people around the world.

Today is an opportunity to point out to numerous problems faced by this population. Young people must not be just a part of political campaigns, or smiling faces on posters during political elections. Young people should be the force that brings changes, and that’s the only way the changes may happen. A society that puts strength in the hands of young people is a society that can succeed.

Therefore, my message to the young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina is: “Don’t let them think with your head, but influence them to think by listening and watching YOU! Only in this way our society will be the one in which young people are not statistics of people leaving for a better living environment.”