MORDIALLOC resident Laura John has been chosen as Australia’s sole United Nations youth representative this year.
The 24-year-old Monash University arts/law student is excited about the prospect of addressing world leaders at the UN’s headquarters in New York in September.
Ms John, a former student at Kilbreda College in Mentone and 2013 City of Kingston Young Citizen of the Year, said she was honoured to be selected as Australia’s youth representative from a field of more than 200 applicants.
“I was standing in a park in Sydney when I heard the news and started jumping and dancing around excitedly,” Ms John said. “I got a few strange looks from passers-by but I didn’t care.”
The selection process involved a three-stage elimination process which culminated three final candidates being interviewed in Sydney by the Australian Office for Youth. Each finalist ran a 1-hour workshop for groups of young people to attend.
Ms John’s workshop topics included issues that the youth of today will have to address both today and tomorrow: extreme poverty, climate change and refugees.
The latter social issue is a topic close to home for Ms John. Her parents fled Sri Lanka in the mid-1980s since the conflict involving the Tamil Tigers was not a safe environment in which to bring up children. Ms John was born in Australia in 1989, but her family’s experience gives her some insight into the plight of asylum seekers.
“I think Australia can do a lot better in its position on asylum seekers despite it being a complex issue,” Ms John said.
She said she hopes to become a human rights lawyer when she graduates later this year and currently volunteers as paralegal with the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.
She has also completed an internship with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees which included a three-month placement with human rights organisation, Human Rights First, in New York.
Ms John also works part-time in the office of former federal attorney-general and Isaacs MP, Mark Dreyfus as an electorate officer.
“At just 24, Laura is already a strong advocate for social justice and human rights in our community,” Mr Dreyfus said. “It is wonderful to see a Mordialloc local selected for this prestigious international role for a young Australian.”
Ms John will consult young Australians across the nation about topics they would like her to raise with UN world leaders in September.
– Ms John is seeking partnerships and financial support for her Youth Representative responsibilities. Email: laura.john@unyouth.org.au. Visit www.unyouth.org.au/youthrep for more information on the Youth Representative Program run by the Australian Office for Youth.
