Meet EU Youth Delegates to the UN for the 81st General Assembly Session

Meet EU Youth Delegates to the UN for the 81st General Assembly Session

New York, 1 June 2026 - Meet Emily Karakoleva and Lauren Bond, newly selected EU Youth Delegates to the United Nations for the 81st UN General Assembly Session. Emily and Lauren will start their mandate on 1 September 2026.

For the 81st UN General Assembly Session, the European Union will be represented by Emily Karakoleva and Lauren Bond, selected EU Youth Delegates for 2026-2027.

As part of the EU Youth Delegate program, the youth delegates will work to encourage young Europeans to participate in the UN's work and increase the visibility of the EU at the UN. Given the challenges that disproportionately affect young people such as climate change and rising inequality, it is important that they have a strong voice to raise their concerns and find solutions. Youth engagement with these issues and the UN's work will also be critical in ensuring action is taken.

Emily Karakoleva is pursuing a double major in International Relations and Journalism at the American University in Bulgaria. She is the youngest ever elected Bulgarian Youth Delegate to the United Nations for the 2024-2025 mandate and currently serves as a European Climate Pact Ambassador.

As Bulgarian Youth Delegate to the UN, Emily focused on strengthening the link between young people's lived realities and international decision-making. She delivered youth statements at the UN Commission for Social Development and the UN General Assembly Third Committee, contributing perspectives on education, youth employment, mental health, digital literacy, climate action, and meaningful youth participation. Her mandate emphasized the need for youth voices from Bulgaria to be reflected in global policy discussions.

At the national level, Emily has organized and facilitated youth consultations across Bulgaria, engaging young people on issues such as education quality, access to services, mental health, youth spaces, and institutional dialogue. Through this work, she has sought to connect local youth perspectives with international policy processes and make global decision-making more accessible to young people.

Previously, Emily served as Chairperson of the Children's Council, an advisory body to the State Agency for Child Protection under the Council of Ministers of Bulgaria. In this role, she worked with youth representatives from across the country and contributed to policy recommendations on education reform, youth employment, and institutional mechanisms for youth consultation.

She is also a winner of the national journalism competition "Workshop for Reporters" and co-author of the book Tell About Your Bulgaria, reflecting her long-standing interest in storytelling, civic engagement, and public communication.

Winner of the UNIDIR/CIGI 2025 Global Youth Contest and author of a peer-reviewed research publication for UNIDIR, Emily is also affiliated with the European International Studies Association (EISA). Her broader international engagement includes representing Bulgaria at the UNESCO Youth Forum and General Conference, participating in the ECOSOC Youth Forum, attending the NATO Youth Summit after winning the NATO Youth Summit Challenge, and contributing to global youth policy discussions during the World Summit for Social Development Youth Assembly.

Guided by the Sustainable Development Goals, Emily works to advance equal and meaningful youth participation as a core element of democratic and institutional decision-making. Her advocacy focuses on ensuring that young people are not only consulted, but actively involved in shaping policies on education, employment, climate governance, digital transformation, and democratic participation.

Lauren Bond is an Irish undergraduate studying International Politics at the University of London Institute in Paris.

She currently serves as a Board Member of the Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions (OBESSU), representing student rights internationally. She has led training sessions at the University on Youth and Development in Mollina and at the Policy and Action Mental Health Training in Berlin. Lauren has represented student perspectives at events such as OBESSU's Council of Europe Study Session on AI in Education in Budapest, Level UP! at the European Parliament in Brussels, and the European Youth Event in Strasbourg.

Lauren has worked extensively on citizenship education, authoring the "Let Us Learn" report launched at Queens University Belfast (2023). She has advocated for adequate, student-led citizenship education at conferences from Strasbourg and Montenegro to Brussels, most recently at the launch of the Civil Society Week in the European Economic and Social Committee. She spent three years with the Secondary Students' Union of Northern Ireland, first as International Officer then as President. Her passions include AI's impact on education, educational inequality, and combatting gender-based violence through education.

Growing up in Ireland after the Good Friday Agreement, she led the "Teach the Troubles" campaign as a Youth Parliament member, delivering keynote speeches at the House of Commons and alongside leading Prime Ministers and politicians. She received a Coronation Champion Award in 2023 and won the 2024 Rotary Youth Leadership Development competition, addressing the European Parliament. Lauren is part of the Washington Ireland Program Emerging Leaders Class of 2026, with a placement on Capitol Hill.

As an alumni of the Friends Forever International leadership program, Lauren understands the importance of empathetic leadership. She is excited to represent the diversity of views, cultures, and perspectives within the European Union. Beyond advocacy, she has a Grade 8 distinction in musical theatre and has worked as a community pharmacy dispenser.