Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Europe, Central Asia and the Americas, Asia and the Pacific Khaled Khiari
Video message at Jeju Forum Sustainability, Peace, Empowerment, And Korea (SPEAK) Program
25 June 2026
Distinguished participants, young leaders, friends,
It is a great honor to address the Jeju Forum SPEAK Youth Program, and I wish to begin by warmly congratulating the organizers and all those who made this initiative possible. The launch of SPEAK is not just a program, it is a recognition that young voices are not only the future of peace. They are its present. The United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs has been proud to support youth from the region under the Futuring Peace in Northeast Asia initiative. Together, we have built spaces where young people from across the region — often separated by history and geopolitics – have sat at the same table and imagined their shared peaceful, inclusive, and sustainable futures.
Lasting peace cannot be built without the full, meaningful, and equal participation of young people. This is the promise of the United Nations’ Youth, Peace and Security agenda, enshrined in Security Council Resolution 2250, and reaffirmed by young peacebuilders around the world, including many in this very room. Resolution 2250 does not ask for youth to be consulted. It asks for youth to be leaders. And what I see in this program is exactly that.
Today's session on digital governance addresses a frontier that did not exist when the institutions shaping our world were designed. The questions being raised are not purely technical in nature — they are questions of power, of inclusion, and ultimately of peace and security. Artificial intelligence is reshaping how societies communicate, how decisions are made, and how conflicts emerge and spread, and the rules governing these technologies will define the contours of international order for decades to come. Youth are not peripheral to this conversation — they are among its most consequential stakeholders. The United Nations has taken important steps to establish itself as the central platform for this global dialogue: the appointment in 2025 of the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI and the upcoming Global Dialogue on AI Governance in Geneva this July represent a significant multilateral commitment to ensuring that the development of these technologies is guided by shared principles rather than narrow interests. The young people joining us today from across Northeast Asia embody that commitment in practice. Through their sustained and proactive contributions on digital inclusion, countering hate speech, and the responsible use of artificial intelligence, they are not waiting to inherit the future — they are actively shaping it.
Congratulations once again to the SPEAK program on its inception, and may it grow and provide an ongoing platform for youth voices in the region and beyond. I wish the participants a fruitful exchange.
Thank you.