Fiji, May 5 -- has issued a blunt warning on rising HIV cases, drug abuse and youth migration, calling on leaders to treat young people as partners, not afterthoughts, in shaping the region's future.

Speaking at the 2050 Regional Convening at the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, the 19-year-old said Pacific youth are carrying the weight of growing social and economic pressures.

"I stand before you today not just as a member of the Pacific Youth Council, but as a 19-year-old son of Fiji and a child of the Blue Pacific."

"I am here to speak for the millions of young souls across our vast ocean.the dreamers, the innovators, and the inheritors of the future we are collectively shaping."

Williams rejected the label often used to describe...