“Any society that does not succeed in tapping into the energy and creativity of its youth will be left behind.”
The GlobalCops newly launched project on “The New Tribe” is an idea whose time has come. As our world continues to confront the threats from unresolved conflicts, nuclear proliferation, inequality and injustice, racism, bullying, transnational and organized crimes, as well as violent extremism and terrorism, we believe that young people are well positioned now more than ever to play a critical role in helping the society to heal. What this means is that we must harness the energy, enthusiasm, and passion of young people to help chat a new course of engagement on issues of mediation, peacemaking, conflict resolution, security and peacebuilding. We are raising a generation that will think differently about the many conflicts, most of which are ongoing or currently unresolved that have dragged us backward, young people who will take up leadership roles in navigating mediation discourse in a more pragmatic and positive way. We call them the new community healers.
The Middle East conflict, from Israel to Palestine, Iran, Iraq, Qatar, Yemen, Syria, Libya have proven that conflicts can endure forever if converted measures are not put in place. We have seen the case of the Israeli and Palestinian question last for more than four decades. Leaders after leaders, multilateral engagements after another, yet we are unable to chat a course for peace between this brothers. Our thinking around the impasse is that the younger generations are more open-minded than the older generations. Can we tap into their resources to make peace work?
As a measure of dedication, we launched the Generation Peace Club which is the world’s largest grassroots peace advocacy organization to help augment our commitment with the “New Tribe”. The Generation Peace Club is a global movement of millions of people advocating for a world free of nuclear weapons, demanding an end to transnational and organized crimes, advocating for human rights for all people, ending unnecessary proxy wars by powerful nations who has the capability to challenge the foundation of global peace and stability, and containing violent extremism and terrorism wherever they exist, we have given a voice to the emerging energetic young generation of leaders who want to give back to community.
Young people make up a greater proportion of the global population than ever before. Almost half (48%) of the world’s people are under 24 years old, yet they face a range of critical challenges. These include: accessing quality education and health care; finding secure employment; risks of involvement in conflict or negotiating the consequences of living with conflict; and being most affected by violent extremism, transnational and organized crimes.
Although the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2250 on youth, peace, and security has been hailed as the first of its kind to recognize young people as meaningful drivers of change through its explicit encouragement of youth leadership at all levels of conflict prevention and peacebuilding, the questions that has continued to burden global actors are whether young people are giving the opportunity to play such an integral role in conflict prevention and peacebuilding.
The Generation Peace Club at the Global Coalition for Peace and Security seeks to address these issues faced by young people, we believe that global youths today can have a real meaningful impact on the big issues if they are rightly supported and engaged. We also have underscored one of the many challenges on the part of national governments who sees these young people through a lens of fear and insecurity, often pushing the ugly narrative that the youth are drivers of conflict and creators of instability as opposed to partners of peace.
We work hard every day to inspire, engage and motivate young people to learn how to solve conflicts peacefully. Imagine if violence was turned into peace where you live, how much would that be worth to you and others?
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Integrating young leaders into not just peacebuilding, but broader policymaking in general will require decision-makers to give up “a huge chunk of our own power,” Murabit said, and the political inertia against power sharing in some places will be a challenge to the resolution’s success.
Kanem offered a more optimistic view on the potential for success, saying Resolution 2250 “at least gives us a platform to demand that this be more systematically embedded in global agendas, in resolutions, and agreements.” She expressed confidence and hope about the progress that could be achieved now that member states had taken this first step.
When youth are seen as victims, the common understanding is that adults are obliged to protect them. If they are delinquent, they are seen as a threat to security; they must be contained and have their childhoods “returned” to them. Resolution 2250 changes this dynamic by recognizing youth as active agents in conflict and post-conflict settings.
Extremist groups often look to raise fresh recruits among young people living in desperate conditions, under exclusionary regimes, or within fractured societies, said Rabens. He pointed to the Islamic State’s knack for glamorizing terrorist life through social media as a prime example.