Projects

Yara Itani was a BKHS Fellow in the “Gen P(eacebuilder)” project

Das „Global Europe Lab“ bringt 12 Nachwuchswissenschaftler:innen und junge Fachkräfte aus verschiedenen Disziplinen und mit unterschiedlichem Hintergrund zusammen, um eine Vision für die künftige Rolle der Europäischen Union (EU) auf der globalen Bühne zu erörtern und zu entwickeln.

A political scientist and ECFR Policy Fellow is the newest researcher to join our team

Boris Pistorius delivered the fifth Helmut Schmidt Lecture in Berlin on 22 June 2026. At the event organised by the Bundeskanzler-Helmut-Schmidt-Stiftung at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, he recognised the former Minister of Defence and Federal Chancellor as a politician who spoke his mind.

At the EU summit in Brussels, the European heads of state and government get stuck due to a lift breakdown. A youth group spontaneously takes their seats in the European Council and has to make important decisions for the future of Europe - from peace and security to healthcare, climate protection and the fight against hate on the internet. But the documents are encrypted: Only by working together can the young people decipher clues, analyse information and make the right decisions in time.

Three questions for Kirsten Hartmann on the Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) agenda and our new project "Gen P(eacebuilder) - Implementing the Youth, Peace and Security agenda".

Below you find a series of interviews with experts on Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) that were filmed during our Gen P(eacebuilder) workshop in Hamburg in July 2025. They outline the relevance of the YPS agenda, stress challenges in implementing it and outline concrete examples from the contexts what it means to operationalise it. Whom should we interview next?

Brutal conflicts worldwide, democratic backsliding in many places, geopolitical power struggles, technological threats, the climate emergency: the list of current challenges seems endless. The effective participation of young people is central to the prevention and resolution of conflicts and lasting peace.

The collapse of the canopy at Novi Sad train station in November 2024, which claimed 16 lives, ignited a struggle for justice in Serbia that was met with repression. Student-led protests have since shaken Serbia, creating a society-wide front demanding the rule of law. This text examines the crisis through the lens of the UN Youth, Peace and Security agenda, showing how government actions threaten three of its pillars – participation, protection and partnership – and how youth are experimenting with new democratic practices.

Latin American youth have always been peacebuilders: university reformers, student resisters, Indigenous organisers, feminist activists. Their struggles anticipated many of the principles later enshrined in the UN’s Youth, Peace and Security agenda. Yet, paradoxically, the agenda itself has failed to resonate in the region. For the framework to matter in Latin America, it must stop speaking about youth and start speaking with them, on their own terms, in their own vocabularies.

The connections between climate, youth, peace and security are gaining traction in global policymaking and research, highlighting the deep interdependencies between sustainability, conflict and the power of youth engagement. This article explores the challenges for young people engaging in climate action and/or peacebuilding, outlines innovative youth-led responses and maps out a shared path that depicts young people as not just being on the journey, but at the centre of it.

In 2015, the UN Security Council Resolution 2250 established the Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) agenda and recognised the important and positive role of young people in preventing conflicts and building sustainable peace. Despite this important milestone and although young people are leading change worldwide, their expertise on peace and security is still often dismissed.

The Bundeskanzler-Helmut-Schmidt-Stiftung (BKHS) is launching a platform on Youth, Peace and Security (YPS). In 2015, the UN Security Council Resolution 2250 established the YPS agenda and recognised the important and positive role of young people in preventing conflicts and building sustainable peace. Young people are leading positive change worldwide – yet, a decade after the YPS agenda was formalised, youths’ expertise around peace and security is often dismissed.

The BKHS’s “Inclusive Geoeconomics” research project is developing recommendations for geoeconomic practices that will establish a global economy that is resilient and competitive, as well as fair and sustainable.

At the Ministerial Conference on UN Peacekeeping, states reaffirmed their support for peacekeeping missions and announced numerous contributions. Despite global austerity measures, this momentum must be maintained and rhetorical commitments must also lead to tangible effects on the ground.

The Future of United Nations Peace Operations

Alliance brings together the expertise and brain power of close to 100 peace operations experts from around the globe

Plea for a focus on peacebuilding against the backdrop of the uncertain future of the crisis-ridden UN peacekeeping missions

UN peacekeeping missions are in crisis. Germany has a duty to take on more security policy responsibility.

Ekrem İmamoğlu, Turkish opposition politician, finds clear words for the success criteria of functioning democracies at the Helmut Schmidt Lecture in Berlin.

In conversation with the guests of the Helmut Schmidt Lecture 2023

February 2024 | Report | An international network of representatives from academia, civil society, and politics releases a new report on the future of peacebuilding

More than 200 guests discuss the reshaping of globalisation at the Helmut Schmidt Lecture in Berlin

BKHS and FES are bringing together a diverse group of peace experts in Hamburg and creating a space for meaningful dialogue

What’s Next for Global Peace Work? – An Interview with Julia Strasheim and Tina Blohm

Der Bericht „Neue Perspektiven: Friedensförderung und Konfliktbearbeitung in einer sich wandelnden Weltordnung“ steht hier kostenlos zum Download bereit.

Hatice Cengiz finds powerful words for the fight for justice at the Helmut Schmidt Lecture 2022

The Saudi government critic Jamal Khashoggi was violently killed in his country’s consulate in Istanbul. 2 October 2022 marks the fourth anniversary of his death. The case is escalating into a growing crisis in the kingdom. An overview of the events.

A brief introduction to the speaker of our Helmut Schmidt Lecture 2022

Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya opens Helmut Schmidt Lecture in Berlin

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya holds the inaugural speech for the Helmut Schmidt Lecture series