Youth Peace & Security

Over the past years, the involvement of some young people in violence and extremist groups has led some to paint youth as threat to peace and security at the community and national level as well as global level. For instance, in August 2015, a 25-year- old University graduate Nazir, thrown his family into a health-threatening stress, as he joins the swelling ranks of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Again, just after the December 2016 general elections in Ghana, there were series of attacks and violent acts which mostly saw young people leading them. Dossier of post election violence in 2016 proves that section of the youth really involved themselves in violent conflicts which resulted in bruise, lost of lives as well as properties. Most importantly, more than 600 million young people live in fragile and conflict affected contexts throughout the world.

According to a report dub "YOUNG PEOPLE’S PARTICIPATION IN PEACE-BUILDING: A PRACTICE NOTE", research shows that youth who participate actively in violence are a minority, while the majority of youth – despite the injustices, deprivations and abuse they can confront daily, particularly in conflict contexts – are not violent and do not participate in violence. Moreover, a growing body of evidence suggests that young women and men can and do play active roles as agents of positive and constructive change. 
Hence, the call for the full involvement of Youth in conflict management, prevention and reconciliation has now become very critical and an important issue at all levels. This call was formally initiated at the Global Forum on Youth , Peace and Security in Amman, Jordan on 22nd August 2015, where Amman Youth Declaration on Youth , Peace and Security was adopted. This action propelled the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to adopt a resolution at its 7573rd meeting in December 9, 2015. This is known as the UN Security Council Resolution 2250 (UNSCR 2250) on Youth, Peace and Security. The resolution has five thematic areas that is; Participation, Protection, Partnership, Prevention and Disengagement & Reintegration. This resolution is totally in line with the Sustainable Development Goal 16 specifically 16.7, which aims at ensuring responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision making at all levels.

The strongest advantage of the resolution is that, it is legally binding and also gives the opportunity to ensure accountability as clearly stated in section 19, 20 and 21. So the Security Council requests the Secretary General's office as well as the Envoy on Youth and the Special Envoy for Youth Refugees to account to all member states each year on the activities of Youth peace builders. 

As stated by Mambou Happy Kelly, a Cameroonian Peace and Gender Equality Activist, apart from the issue of inadequate resources for young peace builders, the other major challenge that the UNSCR 2250 has is the military approach which is always used by most states to combat violent extremism. In fact, the act of always using the military as the first response to any violent conflict has the chance of affecting UNSCR 2250 implementation locally.  

Author  Clifford