{"id":16259,"date":"2019-07-20T11:34:24","date_gmt":"2019-07-20T15:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=16259"},"modified":"2019-10-09T15:47:15","modified_gmt":"2019-10-09T19:47:15","slug":"young-people-care-about-peace-un-youth-envoy-delivers-key-message-to-security-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=16259","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Young people care about peace\u2019: UN Youth Envoy delivers key message to Security Council"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION<\/p>\n

An article from the United Nations Press Service<\/a><\/p>\n

After visiting refugee camps in Jordan, UN-backed schools in Gaza, municipalities in Kosovo and Youth Councils in Denmark, the UN\u2019s Youth Envoy visited the Security Council on Wednesday [July 17] with a simple message from the field that \u201cyoung people care about peace\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

However, Jayathma Wickramanayake made clear that \u201cyoung women and men still suffer from stereotypes, myths and policy panics that harm their agency and affect realizing their full potential for peace\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She blamed the susceptibility to being labelled on a \u201csmall minority\u201d of young people attracted to extremism and \u201cfueled\u201d by the victimization of youth, \u201cespecially young women.\u201d<\/p>\n

The principal consequence of framing young people as \u201ca problem to be solved and a threat to be contained\u201d, according to Ms. Wickramanayake, is that it contributes to their \u201cmarginalization and stigmatization\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moreover, she flagged that it \u201cdetrimentally skews youth, peace and security programmatic responses towards hard security approaches and away from prevention\u201d, while ignoring the fact that \u201cmost young people are in fact not involved in violence\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Youth, peace and security<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Council first addressed youth, peace and security in 2015 with an open debate on the \u201crole of youth in countering violent extremism and promoting peace\u201d. That led to the adoption of resolution 2250, which, among other things, urged Member States to provide young people with a conducive environment for violence-prevention activities and peacebuilding efforts.\u00a0
\n\u2028It also mandated an independent study on youth, peace and security that later served as the basis for resolution 2419, which recognizes the key role of young people in conflict prevention.
\n\u00a0
\nMs. Wickramanayake cited these resolutions as important in today\u2019s world of growing terrorism, organized crime and extremist violence, to \u201cmake sure that perspectives on youth are not distorted by contagious stereotypes that associate young people with violence\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

(Article continued in right column)<\/p>\n

(Click here for a French version of this article.<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Question related to this article.<\/strong><\/div>\n

\n

Youth initiatives for a culture of peace, How can we ensure they get the attention and funding they deserve?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

(Article continued from left column)<\/p>\n

The youth envoy also addressed the need to protect young peacebuilders whose activities put them in the spotlight.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the past months I have noticed with grave concern, incidents of young peacebuilders and young human rights defenders being subjected to threats, intimidation, violence, arbitrary arrest and retaliation by State and non-State Actors\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to recall and remind all of us with great emphasis that \u2018protection\u2019 is an integral pillar of the resolution 2250\u201d, she stressed, calling on governments to \u201cuphold and protect the fundamental rights of young people, including their freedom of expression both online and offline\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She reminded the Council that the Youth, Peace and Security agenda is being recognized and institutionalized within the UN as \u201ccore\u201d to the Organization\u2019s priorities for young people, and that the UN Youth Strategy, Youth 2030, identifies peace and resilience building as \u201cone of its five core priorities for the UN System\u2019s work for and with young people\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this first-ever UN Youth Strategy, we have set out on a new path and will support young people in all their diversity in accessing education, decent work, social protection and their health, while we will stand with young people when they oppose injustice and will work with them to prevent conflict and build peace\u201d, maintained Ms. Wickramanayake. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Through this, \u201cthe UN System will promote an environment that recognizes young people\u2019s important and positive contributions to peace and security, while creating safe spaces and expanding opportunities for young people\u201d, she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We Are Here<\/strong><\/p>\n

With a nod to the First International Symposium on Youth Participation in Peace Processes, which was held last March in Finland, the youth envoy officially launched the policy paper WE ARE HERE: An Integrated Approach to Youth-Inclusive Peace Processes.
\n\u201cI hope this is the beginning of a process\u2026for concrete actions to bring peace\u201d, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ms. Wickramanayake also announced that Qatar would host the second Symposium in 2020, focusing on young women\u2019s participation in peace processes, which she hopes \u201cwill be a good opportunity to further explore the interlinkages between resolutions 2250 and 1325\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sustainable peace must be democratized \u201cto include the communities most affected\u201d, she said, arguing that \u201cyoung people are our best chance in succeeding at that\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

(Thank you to Phyllis Kotite, the CPNN reporter for this article.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION An article from the United Nations Press Service After visiting refugee camps in Jordan, UN-backed schools in Gaza, municipalities in Kosovo and Youth Councils in Denmark, the UN\u2019s Youth Envoy visited the Security Council on Wednesday [July 17] with a simple message from the field that \u201cyoung people care about peace\u201d. … Continue reading \u2018Young people care about peace\u2019: UN Youth Envoy delivers key message to Security Council<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,76,93],"tags":[11,94],"class_list":["post-16259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-information","category-global","category-united-nations","tag-global","tag-united-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16259\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}