Youth Advocacy Team in New York

UNOY Peacebuilders’ Youth Advocacy Team (YAT) is finishing its first 2015 trip to New York, meeting with a number of key stakeholders around the UN Security Council debate on Thursday 23 April on ‘The Role of Youth in Countering Violent Extremism and Promoting Peace’.

The team is represented by two UNOY staff members and young peacebuilders from Colombia, Libya, Pakistan, The Philippines and Nigeria. Our team is gender-balanced and regionally diverse to ensure that our message is representative of diverse individuals whilst ensuring that gender issues are highlighted. The team has carried a core central message; youth are not merely victims or perpetrators, but are active agents of change and leaders in building peace within their communities.

Prior to the Security Council debate on Thursday, the YAT met with the permanent missions of Angola, Lithuania, Argentina and Norway as well as ministers from The Netherlands and Sweden. Following the debate, a meeting was also held with the permanent mission of Brazil. As a key element of the Security Council debate was on ‘Countering Violent Extremism’ (CVE), meetings were also held with the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force and the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate – both United Nations agencies. Lastly, the team met with the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, Ahmad Alhendawi, on how youth can continue to advocate on the international level for greater inclusion and recognition.

The team emphasised the need to recognise the work of youth in promoting peace and to provide support that can enable them to do so more effectively and without obstacles. YAT members spoke about their work and how it works to promote tolerance, understanding and a culture of peace within their societies. They spoke on methodologies such as training on mindfulness, interfaith dialogue, building the skill set of young peacebuilders, informal involvement in peace process dialogues and the education and empowerment of women and girls.

A side event was hosted on Wednesday 22 April by the Swedish Permanent Mission, with the support of the Jordanian and Malaysian Permanent Missions. The side event focused on the role of youth in promoting peace and countering violent extremism, in the lead up to the Security Council debate the following day. Representatives of each permanent mission spoke alongside youth speakers Paula Ramirez (Colombia) and Gulalai Ismail (Pakistan), Ahmad Alhendawi, and representatives from the UN Peacebuilding Support Office and Search for Common Ground. It was emphasised that youth must be engaged with as positive actors; that sustainable peace can not be attained without inclusive policies.

Throughout the discussions, the theme of inclusion was paramount, not only for youth to be engaged and involved as agents of change, but particularly for young women and young men to work alongside one another to ensure that all actors in society are represented.