It was nice to have a late start today. Last night after we left Rio Centro quite a large number of young people took part in an action to protest the removal of youth participation and high level commissioner for future generations from the text. Here at Rio+20 all actions must be approved by security, and even then there may be sanctions. Last night the young people put tape over their mouths and stood silently lining the route to IFSD negotiations. Despite this allegedly being an approved action, civil society was barred from all negotiations.
This morning negotiations have all been closed to us, so our involvement within Rio Centro has been limited. A small group of us who worked yesterday took the day off. We caught the funicular railway up to see the spectacular Cristo Redentor.
The view was wonderful, there were monkeys in the trees on the way up and a samba band on the tram on the way down.
In the middle of the day we attended the Youth 21 event - discussing the establishment of a permanent high level forum for youth.
We heard Seven Suzuki speak again and from a panel of speakers from various governments around the world. The messages were fairly generic about the role of youth as leaders of tomorrow, and the involvement of youth in political decision making. We were disappointed by the representative of the presidency of Brazil, whose emphatic statements directly opposed the position taken by the hosts controlling the text.
After eating some of the free food, we walked the length of Ipanema beach and watched the sunset.
Location:Rio de Janeiro
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