The Embassy of the Republic of Colombia in South Africa congratulates the South African people on Youth Day for its inspirational struggle for justice, democracy and peace, that serves as example to youth, communities and all States around the world.

On June 16, 1976, the Youth in South Africa, planted a seed of liberation. The legacy of young people and children in Africa has motivated young people, communities and movements around the world to continue planting seeds of justice and self-determination, showing us that there is no other way to dignify life than by exercising and respecting the rights that assist us as human beings and peoples.

Around the world, young Africans and people of African descent are today leading important transformative movements that promise a more humanized and less capitalized future, challenging the intolerances and prejudices that instigate violence and sustain regimes of injustice and misery. June 16 reminds us of the commitment to promote and respect the rights of all human beings without any form of discrimination and exclusion, so that our reborn children and youth who precede us, can live without risking their lives and burying their dreams.

The Embassy of the Republic of Colombia in South Africa commemorates this historic Youth Day, reaffirming its commitment to transform the realities that still make vulnerable and put at risk the right to a dignified life without violence and injustice. To this end, the “Government of Change” has focused part of its foreign policy on promoting initiatives towards the achievement of ethnic and racial justice, promoting knowledge and recognition of history and cultures, and processes of comprehensive historical reparation; a pacifist, participatory and intersectional feminist foreign policy aimed at promoting equity and women's rights in all their diversity, through the mainstreaming of the gender approach in bilateral and multilateral policy, and the promotion of an egalitarian and discrimination-free Colombia, for which the Ministry of Equality and Equity was created in 2023, projecting to develop strategies that prevent discrimination and promote social cohesion, with an emphasis on the migrant population.

We hope for a longstanding partnership to continuing leading our communities to achieve dignifying conditions of life, where our children and youth are the center and priority. 

#ColombiaInSA