Thijs Verheul comes in second in the race for Dutch UN youth representative

Thijs Verheul was up against two great finalists, but on the UN's 65th anniversary, the public chose Dirk Janssen (20) as UN youth representative. Congratulations, Dirk!

For the next two years, Dirk, who is studying International Relations at University College Maastricht, will dedicate himself to representing young Dutch people at the United Nations. Dirk will fly to New York next Saturday, 31 October, to prepare the speech he will be giving next year to the United Nations General Assembly.

Thijs Verheul was the runner-up. Thijs wrote: 'I'd like to thank everyone for their vote. Thanks to you, I got 2,177 votes in just one weekend, which wasn't enough to win the much coveted position, but I did come in second. Dirk is the rightful winner with 2,863 votes.

Campaign training by Jack de Vries, presentation training by Geke van Velzen, and all of the other experts I had the pleasure of meeting, 'opponents' who were also fighting for a good cause, all of the positive responses and of course everyone, who voted for me and supported me during the campaign! This was an experience I will never forget.

I may not have been elected, but I will continue fighting AIDS, malaria and TB! I'm not sure yet what I'll do with what I learnt. I guess I'll take some time off first, let everything sink in and then focus on my studies again. Many thanks to all of you for your contribution to this experience, which I know I will benefit from for the rest of my life!'

Malaria No More! Netherlands would also like to congratulate Thijs on his outstanding accomplishment. We would also like to thank everyone who voted for Thijs. We hope Thijs enjoys his time off and wish him the best of luck for his finals. We'll surely be in touch in the coming years, during Thijs's medicine studies and because of his dedication to Millennium Goal 6.