Miles Henderson is campaigning to bring youth voices to the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD), an entity that aims to advance racial and reparatory justice for Afrodescendant people around the world.

Henderson, who serves as co-chair of the Youth Sub-Committee of PFPAD's International Civil Society Working Group (ICSWG), is throwing his hat in the ring to fill a vacancy on the forum. His goal is to elevate youth influence in critical discussions on systemic racism and the future for Black people globally.

"The youth are really looking to be the change that they want to see, but not only that – we want to be at these tables and want to be part of the creation of the future, because that is what is happening at these forums," Henderson told TAG24 NEWS on Wednesday.

The 30-year-old was born in Arkansas and raised in Pennsylvania, where he studied International Studies and Asian Studies with a minor in Pan-African Studies. He has lived in Brazil, Ghana, Kenya, and Ethiopia, where he now spends most of his time.

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Founder of True Culture University (TCU), Henderson hopes to harness the relationships fostered through the global campus network to amplify youth perspectives in international decision-making. Student clubs at over 100 universities in Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal, Brazil, Ghana, and the US have pre-registered on TCU's social media app PORTAL. The growing network also provides students with job training and workshop opportunities according to their interests.

Henderson's ultimate goal is to establish a Pan-African Student Congress, an umbrella organization of Black and African student clubs around the world.

"We want those clubs to be represented by this congress so that we can have a unified voice and speak to these international entities and organizations with a unified policy of what the students are looking for and what they've been working towards," Henderson explained.

Henderson's campaign for a seat on the forum, backed my members of the ICSWG Youth Subcommittee, comes after repeated calls for meaningful consideration of young people's perspectives on the world stage.

"When we're talking about a forum for people of African descent and you have the continent of Africa, which is going to have the largest youth population moving into the future, it is very apparent that youth engagement and youth representation on the forum are very important for the future of the forum given the type of reality that we're moving into with technology and the political climate," Henderson said.

During PFPAD's first session in December 2022, the ICSWG Youth Subcommittee gained over 150 signatures on a petition demanding greater youth involvement and representation.

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The second session in 2023 saw little progress toward that goal, Henderson said, prompting youth participants PFPAD's third session in April to send around a second petition garnering almost 300 signatures and issue a first-ever Youth Declaration. One of the demands was the addition of at least two youth seats on the forum.

"Now we’re two petitions in and a Youth Declaration in, and there’s still no youth leadership or consideration for youth leadership on the forum at this point," Henderson lamented, expressing hope that his candidacy might provide a necessary catalyst for change.

Gaining youth representation on PFPAD is about more than just one person. It's about establishing the means by which young people can participate in strategic and substantial ways.

"We want to be part of these decisions because they are going to affect us in the long term, and I think we have unique insights that other stakeholders may not necessarily have access to in the way that we do," Henderson said.

These insights include the role of artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and social media in shaping the present and future – challenges and opportunities Henderson believes are not being adequately addressed by PFPAD.

"For us, the way that we're going to push the dial is through infrastructure and institution creation," he emphasized.

The proposed Pan-African Student Congress would offer students and young people around the world a gateway to inform themselves about international proceedings and coordinate their contributions, a mechanism Henderson expects could be a game changer in international relations and policymaking.

"The world is changing very quickly, and I think our insights are going to become very relevant as time goes on," he insisted.