Youth Advocacy Team at the Global Youth Summit Against Violent Extremism

The UNOY Peacebuilders’ Youth Advocacy Team (YAT) carried out a lobbying mission in New York, between 27 September and 2 October 2015, in the occasion of the Global Youth Summit Against Violent Extremism (28 September). The event was organized by the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), the U.S. State Department, the White House and Search for Common Ground and it hosted more than 100 government officials and youth activists.

Four young peacebuilders from Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Norway joined this mission, accompanied by YAT’s advisor Meg Villanueva (Philippines) and UNOY’s Leading Coordinator, Matilda Flemming. The team had an active role before, during and after the Summit as Matilda facilitated part of the prep-meeting with the youth participants and Meg facilitated the event. Moreover, two participants of the Global Forum on Youth, Peace and Security were key speakers during the Summit: Yousef Assidiq, co-founder of the Norwegian organization JustUnity, and Achaleke Leke, from Cameroon. They shared their inspiring stories of how they became agents of positive change after being involved in violent extremism.Their participation was featured in the British newspaper The Guardian. UNOY International Secretariat also coordinated the draft of the Summit’s outcome document, the Youth Action Agenda to Prevent Violent Extremism and Promote Peace, with support from Search for Common Ground.

This mission was also an important opportunity to move forward on the youth, peace and security (YPS) agenda. The team attended several side events, multilateral and bilateral meetings with Member State Permanent Missions, UN agencies and other organizations, in which they presented the Amman Youth Declaration and discussed the need for a Security Council resolution on Youth, Peace and Security. The meetings were very fruitful and they pointed at important ways in which the YAT can strengthen its advocacy work towards a Security Council resolution. In the meetings with both the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) and the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF), representatives stressed that today, more than ever, there is a potential to recognize youth as peacebuilders. It depends on us to provide policy-makers with concrete evidence of the positive role youth already plays in transforming conflict, preventing and countering violent extremism around the world and how this work can be supported. That is the only way to successfully counter the narrative that depicts youth as a potential threat to peace.

In the meetings with the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders and UN Women, the YAT once again had the chance to discuss the ways in which the Women and Youth agendas can reinforce each other and the learnings that the YPS movement can take from the women’s movement. Finally, as pointed out during several meetings, it is important to keep focused on our goals and to partner with key allies who believe in our mission and are willing to work hard with us to reach it.