A youth statement on emerging technologies at the UN General Assembly First Committee

On 17 October 2025, Yerdaulet Rakhmatulla of the Qazaq Nuclear Frontline Coalition (QNFC) and Ana Palada of the United Network of Young Peacebuilders (UNOY) addressed the UN General Assembly’s First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in New York. They delivered the first statement of the UN Youth4Disarmament Forum, on behalf of youth-led and allied civil society organisations. More than 45 individuals and organisations endorsed it.

The statement set out five asks:

• implement the Youth4Disarmament Forum’s recommendations: make youth participation institutional, invest in education and capacity building, and connect policy and technical communities;
• build transparent, inclusive and accountable governance of emerging technologies;
• halt the application of AI to nuclear weapons, and ground AI governance in ethics, environmental protection and human rights;
• guarantee youth leadership in intergovernmental work on emerging technologies and nuclear disarmament;
• create a UN Special Rapporteur on AI and human rights.

The recording of the meeting is on UN Web TV.

First Committee, 10th plenary meeting, 80th session of the General Assembly UN Web TV