The most powerful international governing body in the world invited young people from all around the globe, including over 150 New York City students, to participate in the first-ever special event on issues of international peace and security.

Students spanned from the U.S., Japan, Germany, and Austria to China, including students from Harlem’s Children Zone and John Adams High School in Queens, to attend a special event sponsored by the United Nations Security Council.

“So let me say to the young people of the world: you have a stake in our debates every day. But today, you and your generation will have a voice as well,” United States’ UN Ambassador Susan Rice told the multicultural crowd of about 200 young people.

Ambassador Rice came up with the idea and added it to the U.S.’s agenda for their month-long rotating presidency of the UN Security Council.

Gloria Ramazani, a 20-year-old girl who lives in Goma talks about the issues the concern her

Rice encouraged young people, ages 13 to 21, to share what they felt was “the most vital challenge to peace and security” facing their generation, and in turn received about 1,000 submissions through email, YouTube, Facebook and by letter from December 2nd to the 14th.

Three videos from youth in Venezuela, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Tunisia were chosen in the end, the U.S. UN mission told theGrio.

“We remind ourselves that we, the grown-ups, are only the temporary stewards of the Earth, and that we owe it to you, the next generation, to provide a more peaceful world of growing prosperity, equality, democracy, and opportunity,” Ambassador Rice told the youth in attendance.

The special event was intended to take place in the UN Security Council, but due to a “suspicious odor,” the youth and Security Council members were evacuated to a conference building in the North Lawn, the U.S. UN mission told theGrio.