In an award-winning essay previously published in this newspaper, teenager Maxwell Hyman called out “the troubling and consistent unwillingness to listen to youth.”
Today, nearly three years later, there’s evidence that young voices are being heard, especially when it comes to pursuing peace and peaceful change. This month, youth leaders from 15 countries kicked off a yearlong Youth Peace Mediators program in South Africa, while the Sydney-based Institute for Economics and Peace graduated another annual group of mostly young-adult “peace ambassadors.”
May saw 90 young Nigerians trained to serve as community “peace champions” in the resource-rich, conflict-ridden Niger Delta. And in April, a United Nations program, GenerAccion Paz, celebrated another year of peace-building projects by young leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The second-most pressing global concern for young people is armed conflict (climate change is first), according to a World Economic Forum survey across more than 140 countries. Wars of various types are at a historic high, with youth being both foot soldiers and targets. That’s why it’s essential that they become “co-owners” of reconciliation and resolution efforts, according to Graeme Simpson, head of Interpeace, which supports a peace mediator program. As he told the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, “The durability and legitimacy of peace processes demand [youth] buy-in.”
But young people are barely represented in national legislatures or formal social structures. Globally, only 2.8% of parliamentarians are under 30 years old, the World Economic Forum reports. And less than a third of countries consult young people when preparing national growth plans.
Youth activists are increasingly clear that peace is not something they are willing to passively wait for. They want agency, action, and inclusion. More than just the absence of conflict, peace is “the presence of justice and opportunities,” says Wam Nelly-Lucy Mbu, an Institute for Economics and Peace ambassador from Cameroon. “I want to be part of the solution, not just a witness.”
Even in Kenya, where young adults have led recent street protests that have often ended violently, there is a parallel yearning for peace. But it’s for a peace that’s built on participation that recognizes and respects what youth can contribute.
“We are tired of dying and losing our loved ones. … We are ready to sit down and share our ideas,” The Standard newspaper reported a Kenyan student leader saying this week. “We have the skills, the knowledge, and the capacity to contribute positively to nation-building,” said the aptly named young man, Peace Love Isaa.
