— Yi Sun, a student at Shanghai World Foreign Language Academy in China, joined diplomats, public officials, scholars, social-impact leaders and youth representatives in New York at the Global Peace Summit 2026, where she delivered a youth address on inclusion, sustainability and the transformative power of art.
Held during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, the gathering formed part of the Global Conference on Peace, Unity & Sustainable Development, an invitation-only international forum convened in New York during UNGA Week. The summit brought together participants from government, diplomacy, civil society, business, education and humanitarian initiatives for discussions on peace, human dignity, sustainable development, responsible leadership and international cooperation.
Yi Sun was also honored with the Global Distinguished Leadership Award 2026 in recognition of her leadership and sustained commitment to youth empowerment, philanthropy, and social impact through art and cultural engagement. In addition to her work as a student, Yi Sun serves as Youth Ambassador of the Youth Empowerment International Association and Lead Curator of the Ten Thousand Suns Art Philanthropy Initiative. She was listed in the summit’s official delegate book among the recipients of the distinguished leadership award.
The summit featured an international group of senior participants. Among them was Ivonne A-Baki, former Ecuadorian ambassador to the United States and France and a formally nominated candidate for the position of United Nations Secretary-General. Other participants included Dr. Fateh Boutbig, President of the Pan-African Parliament, and Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan, Chairman of Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s Youth Programme, alongside judges, diplomats, public officials, community leaders and international speakers. German public figure Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe was also featured as a summit speaker.
Against this international backdrop, Yi Sun brought the discussion to a deeply personal level.
In her speech, titled “Learning to See,” she reflected on years of engagement with autistic children and artists in China. She recalled an autistic classmate from elementary school whose seat was eventually moved to the back of the classroom, near the trash bins. At the time, she said, she noticed that he was different but failed to ask what else there was to see.
Years later, her perspective began to change through weekly volunteer teaching with autistic students. One student, Stella, particularly challenged Yi Sun’s assumptions. While Yi Sun had initially measured progress through English vocabulary and classroom exercises, she gradually discovered Stella’s remarkable imagination and storytelling ability.
“I had been measuring Stella by the words she remembered, while almost missing the stories she could create,” Yi Sun told the audience.
That lesson deepened through her work with Ten Thousand Suns, an art initiative showcasing works by autistic artists. While helping prepare an exhibition in Hong Kong, Yi Sun encountered artists who had developed highly distinctive visual styles without formal artistic training. Some participants in the project have since signed contracts as full-time artists, allowing their creativity to become not only a means of expression but also a path toward economic participation and greater independence.
For Yi Sun, the experience reshaped the meaning of sustainability.
“A charity event ends. A volunteer leaves. But a career can continue,” she said.
Rather than seeing people with autism simply as recipients of assistance, Yi Sun urged the audience to recognize their capacity to become artists, professionals and contributors in their own right. Her central question evolved from “What can I do for them?” to “What can we create together?”
Yi Sun extended that idea beyond autism, connecting inclusion with the broader question of peace. Differences between individuals, communities and countries, she argued, should not automatically become barriers. Instead, meaningful cooperation begins when people are willing to look beyond what appears unfamiliar and recognize possibilities that might otherwise remain unseen.
“Peace begins with the same habit of seeing,” she said, inviting participants to look again for “the story they have not told, the beauty others have overlooked, and the possibility that can only emerge through cooperation.”
Her remarks added a youth perspective to a summit otherwise populated by experienced diplomats, policymakers and public leaders. Rather than proposing a single grand solution, Yi Sun offered a simple principle rooted in her own experiences with education, volunteer service and art: sustainable change begins when society moves from merely helping others to recognizing what people can contribute—and creating alongside them.
At a gathering centered on peace, unity and sustainable development, the message from a Shanghai high school student was straightforward: a more inclusive world may begin with learning to see differently.
Contact Info:
Name: Emily Carter
Email: Send Email
Organization: NewToneConsulting
Phone: 6315900538
Website: https://www.newtoneglobal.com/
Release ID: 89205564
If you detect any issues, problems, or errors in this press release content, kindly contact error@releasecontact.com to notify us (it is important to note that this email is the authorized channel for such matters, sending multiple emails to multiple addresses does not necessarily help expedite your request). We will respond and rectify the situation in the next 8 hours.