United Nations, New York:
Ten percent of all adolescents worldwide face mental health issues and some of them commit suicide, which is the third leading cause of death among the youth. Though a major problem, it is overlooked by authorities and experts.
It was the theme of a UN conference, the Master Plan global initiative, organized at the behest of Indian American activist Christo Thomas, the founder of the Collegiate Congress, a student advocacy organization which is a consortium of elected student leaders of universities and colleges in New York.
Students union representatives from 109 countries attended.
The initiative launched its first Common-Agreed-Program (CAP) #IAmWithYou campaign at the event on February 24, focusing on depression and suicide among youth.
The campaign is based on the 2016 report of the World Health Organization (WHO) which found that 62,000 people between the ages of 10-19 take their life in every year.
“This campaign is focusing on solutions to curb this severe and painful issue,” Thomas, who is the founder and chair of the Master Plan Core Committee, said.
Collin V. Kelapile, chair of the Master Plan Advisory Board and Permanent Representative of Botswana chaired the event. He noted that 300 million youth at the age group of 15-29 suffer depression. Many are not seeking treatment. The allotment of resources to face this issue is insignificant too. Depression leads to poor health and other problems too, he noted.
Ambassador Keisha McGuier, Permanent Representative of Grenada to the UN noted the mental health issues of people who face natural calamities regularly as the Caribbeans or people who live in war zones like Afghanistan.
Dr. Nata Manabde, executive director of World Health Organization to the UN noted that there are not sufficient number of professionals to challenge the mental health issues. People with depression dies 10 to 20 years earlier than others. They might develop heart conditions and other issues. It also affects the economic situation.
“When you say ‘I am with you,’ you are taking responsibility, she said.
The #IAmWithYou campaign will start its deliberations from March from The Master Plan's Sao Paulo, Brazil office.
The campaign got the support of Permanent Representatives of 11 countries to the United Nations (Botswana, Grenada, Norway, Afghanistan, Costa Rica, Morocco, Palau, Dominica, Portugal, Lithuania, and The Gambia), which in itself is an achievement according to the vice-chair of the Master Plan Core Committee Peter Kodjie, Secretary-General of All-African Students Union (AASU), who moderated the second panel.
The second panel also had the Dean of McGill University, Dr. Dilson Rassier, the director for the Academic Advisory of the Master Plan, who briefed on depression and mental health. Ambassador Narinder Kakar, Permanent Observer of the University of Peace spoke.
The Master Plan's other Core Committee members including Robert Napier -executive director and president of the European Students Union, Beatriz Durval, advisor and executive secretary of OCLEA, and Joshua Harris-Till, chief advisor and the president of the Young Democrats of America were also on the panel.
#IAmWithYou campaign messages will be disseminated through social media, while also stressing that relationships found online are not enough. Rather, #IAmWithYou encourages fulfilling real-life relations among young people, teachers, and parents.
The young and depressed need to know that they are loved and are not alone in their struggles.
The immediate focus of the campaign will be students, since a study has found that the majority of youth who took their life or depressed are students.
Thomas is credited for helping to draft a Resolution of the UN in 2018 declaring January 24 as International Day of Education. It was moved at the UN by the Nigerian mission and co-sponsored by 58 member states including India.
Thomas said the current project was also in his mind during that time. “I come from a politically active family and was engaged in campus activities. I had this idea since 2013 when I moved to New York City. The idea started brewing again in 2015 with the founding of my student advocacy organization - Collegiate Congress Inc. Nothing comes easy and had to be built.”
“I then reached out to the European Students Union president and then to All-African Students Union. In the meantime, the Young Democrats of America and Young Republican's national leadership too agreed to join the movement. In February 2019, Ambassador Collin Kelapile agreed to champion this in the UN by getting the required support from Member States.
The campaigns immediate goal is the creation of a Research Center in Sao-Paulo, Brazil, he said. Sao Paulo is selected because one of the co-creators of The Master Plan, Organizacion Continental Latinoamericana y Caribena de Estudiantes (OCLAE), has its office in Sao Paulo. Moreover, mental health issues are becoming a major issue in Latin America.
Thomas also explained why he got interested in mental health issues: “Some of the issues of depression and suicide can be prevented by sharing the problems with each other. We all have been through such situations. I have been through it. In many instances, the youth take their life because they failed in examinations. It took me 14 years to complete my high-school as I failed in two classes. I was dropped out of the engineering college. It was enough to be discouraged. But some how I moved out of it all.
“Now I am pursuing my second masters degree. I helped create the UN International Day of Education. Most successful people in the world are not academicians or scholars. So we can stop such painful incidents since life is precious.’
The #IAmWithYou campaign is one of the many initiatives of The Master Plan. He said he is also planning an event focusing on the UN Sustainable Development Goal-5, which is Gender Equality, during meeting of the Commission on Status of Women (CSW) in mid-March.
Born and brought up in Taliparamba, in Kerala, Thomas’s father K.J.Thomas, is a politician and advocate. He studied at Kendriya Vidyalaya in Kannur’s Keltron Nagar.
The International Day for Education was co-sponsored by the Permanent Missions of Ireland, Singapore, Qatar, Norway and UNESCO.
‘It would have been great if India, known for its ancient scholars and scientists, had sponsored my resolution. Though I had discussions with the UN Missions of India and US, it was Nigeria who finally advocated the cause to celebrate the role of education for peace and development,’ said Thomas earlier while speaking with HuffPost India.
The idea of observing an International day for Education came to Thomas while working on the first academic program for United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), the principal body of the UN that provides training to diplomats.
‘While UN observes many international days, it did not have any assigned day for education, even though the UN Declaration of Human Rights clearly mentions Right to Education and quality education is the fourth Sustainable Development Goal. So we as a UN affiliate organization proposed the day,’ said Thomas.
