Amman Youth Declaration is adopted by participants of the Global Forum on Youth, Peace and Security
The Global Forum on Youth, Peace and Security was held in Amman on the 21-22 August. The Forum was organised in partnership between the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, four United Nations entities (PBSO, UNFPA, UNDP and Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth) and two civil society organizations, UNOY Peacebuilders and Searching for Common Ground. UNOY Peacebuilders was not only one of the co-organizers of the event, but also the only youth-led civil society organization focused on youth’s participation in peacebuilding. The Global Forum brought together more than 500 participants, including government officials, policy experts, youth-led organizations and, most importantly, young peacebuilders from all over the world. The Forum was a great opportunity for us to make our voices even louder and take it to a new audience.
One of the outcomes of the Forum was the Amman Youth Declaration, “a common vision and roadmap towards a strengthened policy framework to support us [youth] in transforming conflict, preventing and countering violence and building sustainable peace”. The Declaration was entirely written by young people in a process coordinated by UNOY Peacebuilders. The drafting of the document combined a number of online consultations with more than 10.000 young people from all over the world, including a survey and focus group discussions through Skype. The young people participating in the Global Forum also gave their input on the declaration during the first day of the Forum.
Moment of history: We are adopting the Amman declaration on Youth, Peace and Security right now. #Youth4Peace pic.twitter.com/yanlhJXIpZ
— denis pato (@denis2pato) August 22, 2015
The Declaration highlights four key thematic areas which must be addressed to further enable young people to participate in building peace, transforming conflicts and preventing violence. Each thematic area introduces key action points targeted at specific actors, from local and national authorities to international agencies and donors.
According to young peacebuilders, stakeholders must come together in order to: (i) provide spaces for youth to engage in meaning participation in decision and policy making in the field of peace and security; (ii) recognize and support youth’s efforts in preventing violence, transforming conflict and building peace; (iii) fight gender based violence and promote gender equality; (iv) invest in youth’s social and economic development. The documents also calls on the United Nations Security Council to adopted a thematic Resolution on Youth, Peace and Security in order to “establish a global policy framework recognising and addressing the specific needs, assets, potential and diverse identities of youth in conflict and post-conflict scenarios”. The Crown Prince Al Hussein of Jordan, patron of the Forum, committed to champion this initiative.
Youth participants have adopted the Amman Declaration on Youth, Peace & Security! See it at http://t.co/n8VrKBIHs5 #youth4peace
— UNOY Peacebuilders (@unoy_peace) August 22, 2015
Young people participating in the Global Forum adopted the declaration through a round of applause and in the afternoon youth, government representatives, UN personel, civil society, academics and others discussed their commitments to the implementation of the actions called for in the declaration.
Now that the Global Forum is over, participants remain highly engaged, both online and offline. Some young peacebuilders committed to translate the document to their native language, share it with their networks and take it to local authorities. The goal to set a new international agenda for youth’s participation in transforming conflict and building peace is ambitious, but the youth is up to the challenge.