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.”
1. What is the Youth, Peace and Security agenda?
The global Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) agenda focuses on the meaningful inclusion of young people in conflict prevention, conflict resolution and long term peacebuilding. Three United Nations Security Council resolutions form the normative foundation of this agenda. After more than a decade of advocacy efforts, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted the groundbreaking Resolution 2250 on 9 December 2015, which for the first time recognized the important and positive role of young people in maintaining and promoting peace and security. This resolution is structured around five pillars: participation, protection, prevention, partnerships, and disengagement and reintegration.
While the first follow up resolution 2419 from 2018 called for the inclusion and meaningful participation of young people in the prevention and resolution of conflicts as well as in the negotiation and implementation of peace agreements, Resolution 2535 from 2020 focuses on the operationalization and institutionalization of the agenda within the UN Secretariat. Despite ongoing implementation efforts within the UN and at regional and national levels, many challenges remain ten years after the first Security Council resolution.
2. Why do we need a Youth, Peace and Security agenda?
Peace and security are in many ways “youth issues.” Young people are disproportionately affected by armed conflict and other security threats. But they are much more than just those particularly affected by crises and their consequences. All over the world, many young people actively work for peace and security.
Nevertheless, their engagement is often overlooked or underestimated, and young people are frequently marginalized or only symbolically included in peace and security processes, despite the fact that half of the world’s population is under the age of 30. Their meaningful inclusion offers the opportunity for sustainable peace and benefits not only young people but society as a whole.
Recognizing the positive role of youth in peace and security efforts and creating a global framework for their participation through the YPS agenda is an important step toward more inclusive and sustainable peacebuilding. Among other things, the UN Security Council calls on member states, including Germany, to explore how young people’s participation in decision making at all levels can be strengthened. This is crucial because decisions related to peace and security already affect young people today, not only in the future.
Given the many current crises, from armed conflict to the climate emergency and disinformation, it is more important than ever to harness the potential of the YPS agenda and of young people for peace.
3. What are the main goals of the “Gen P(eacebuilder)” project?
The project “Gen P(eacebuilder) – Implementing the Youth, Peace and Security Agenda” aims, on the one hand, to generate new insights into the YPS agenda. We explore its potential for multilateral cooperation in conflict resolution and peacebuilding in a changing global order, as well as how Germany can support its implementation both internationally and domestically.
A key element of the project is close collaboration with young peacebuilders from Germany and different regions of the world, with whom we jointly develop policy recommendations for decision makers. Ultimately, we aim to amplify the voices of young peacebuilders and improve knowledge about the agenda among policymakers and the broader public.
This also includes challenging persistent gendered stereotypes about young people in the context of peace and security, such as the portrayal of young men as potential threats and young women as passive victims.
Importantly, our project is not only about young people, but is carried out with them and for them.
Further information about the project can be found here.