Africa-Press – Angola. The Southern African Development Community (SADC), of which Angola is a member, is working on the development of a Regional Strategy on Youth, Peace and Security (YPS), with a view to involving this segment in the processes of conflict prevention and resolution in the region.
As part of this initiative, the SADC Secretariat convened a three-day meeting of Member States, held between the 2nd and 4th of this month, which served to present the draft document.
Regional and national stakeholders, including representatives from Ministries of Youth and Sports, Ministries of Foreign Affairs, National Youth Councils and Civil Society Organisations, discussed the increasing participation of young people in peace processes and their role in conflict prevention and resolution.
The SADC Secretariat was supported by the United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (UNDPPA Botswana) and the African Centre for Constructive Dispute Resolution (ACCORD).
Information available on the SADC website on this subject states that the community is developing the draft Regional Strategy in alignment with United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2250, adopted by the same body in December 2015.
The website reports that UNSCR 2250 recognizes the efforts of young people in peacebuilding and provides a set of guidelines on policies and programmes to be developed by Member States, the United Nations and civil society.
The Resolution (UNSCR) also explores how conflict impacts the lives of young people and what should be done to mitigate the effects, as well as how young people can be meaningfully included in the creation of peaceful communities.
The Regional Strategy for Youth, Peace and Security aims to highlight measures to address the challenges faced by young men and women in conflict situations and thus ensure equal representation and meaningful participation of young people in key decision-making positions in conflict resolution, peacebuilding and peacekeeping.
The initiative aims to promote the development of National Action Plans on the Regional Strategy on Youth, Peace and Security, with a view to addressing the specific challenges faced by boys and girls in each Member State.
These national plans, the SADC website highlights, serve to guide the localization of the implementation of the peace and security agenda for youth.
SADC Peacebuilding and Mediation Officer Fabrice Kitenge Tunda called the development of the regional strategy an intentional step by the community to increase youth participation in peace and security processes, including in peace negotiations and peacebuilding and in conflict prevention and resolution at all levels.
Fabrice Kitenge Tunda, who represented the SADC Secretariat, noted the diversity of participants at the seminar, which demonstrated recognition of the role of various sectors in implementing the youth, peace and security agenda collaboratively.
In this regard, the official praised the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zimbabwe for having already developed National Action Plans for Youth, Peace and Security.
In turn, the Program Coordinator at ACCORD, an African institution dedicated to promoting dialogue to build peaceful coexistence in an interdependent world, Marisha Ramdeen, said that the organization recognizes the role that young people play in peacebuilding processes.
Ramdeen also highlighted that UNSCR 2250 and the establishment of the African Union Continental Framework on Youth, Peace and Security have become key pillars and help legitimize necessary initiatives to advance the youth agenda in these various peace and security efforts.
Following this debate, UNDPPA Representative Etakong Tabeyang indicated that the United Nations recognizes the critical role of young people in peace and security initiatives.
On 9 December 2015, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2250, a groundbreaking framework that recognises the important and positive role that young people play in maintaining and promoting international peace and security. For the UN Security Council, recognising the importance of young people in peace and security is vital to promoting inclusive, resilient and peaceful societies.
By prioritizing youth empowerment and participation in peacebuilding, the institution continues, the region is paving the way for a safer and more sustainable future. At the consultative meeting, Member States recommended, among others, that further consultations with regional and national stakeholders be conducted to consider the views and perceptions of young people in the SADC region.
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