Investing in Youth Brings Peace Dividends, Deputy Secretary-General Tells High-Level Event, Calling on States to Support Young Peacebuilders Strategy

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks at the high-level event on youth, peace and security, marking the fifth anniversary of the landmark United Nations Security Council resolution 2250 (2015), today:

I thank the Government of Sweden and the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth for convening this event in collaboration with United Nations partner agencies and the Governments of the Dominican Republic, France and Jordan.

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the adoption of resolution 2250 (2015) on youth, peace and security by the United Nations Security Council, and you have all have been true champions of this agenda.  Resolution 2250 gave long overdue recognition to the agency and leadership of young people in peacebuilding and provided an opportunity to re-think our approach to working with and for young people.

Since its adoption, we have collectively taken steps in the right direction to enable young people to play their essential role in building peaceful and just societies.  The United Nations launched its first-ever youth strategy, and its focus on young people as catalysts for peace and security is inspired directly by resolution 2250.

Through the independent progress study on youth peace and security — “The Missing Peace” — we have expanded the evidence-base on the correlation between investments in young people and dividends for peace.  Between 2016 and 2019, the Peacebuilding Fund invested $57.2 million in youth-focused programmes through a new gender and youth instrument.  We are also mainstreaming the agenda into 22 special political missions, including through with the establishment of 14 youth focal points and, in Somalia, a full-time youth adviser.

I have seen firsthand, on my recent visit to West Africa, how critical meaningful youth engagement is for sustaining peace and how important it is that we work to build trust between young people and institutions.  We are also seeing this agenda being advanced by Member States and by regional partners such as the African Union, which adopted a 10-year continental framework on youth, peace and security last August.

Perhaps most importantly, this international recognition has inspired many more young people to join the ranks of their peers working for lasting peace.  From prevention to peace processes, protection to post-conflict reintegration, young people are stepping up through formal and informal mechanisms, and by using traditional engagement means and new technologies.

Despite being the generation that has been most disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 lockdown, the climate crisis, unprecedented levels of unemployment and violence, young people are still finding ways to engage, to support each other, and to demand and drive change.

Despite the achievements noted above, the youth, peace and security agenda still faces many challenges.  I would like to highlight two areas where we can and must improve:  First, it is critical to narrow the gap the between the pace of normative progress in New York and the realities of youth participation at the country level.  Many young peacebuilders tell us that their participation is not welcomed by the public or those in positions of power.  This is especially evident for young women.

I call on every Member State and every stakeholder who helped to build the normative foundations of this agenda to engage proactively in its successful implementation on the ground, and I encourage increased accountability for implementation and results across the board.

To that end, I urge everyone to make better use of the United Nations convening power to address barriers to youth participation and to draw on our United Nations country teams.  Building on Security Council resolution 2535 (2020), we will also work to increase the work of United Nations missions with young people in carrying out our peacekeeping and political mandates.

Second, we must increase our investments in youth-led peacebuilding.  Too often, funding partners react to the challenges of extremism through investments in counter-terrorism programs rather than prevention, including key areas such as youth participation, education, economic opportunities and protection.  I call on funding partners to increase their support for youth-led peacebuilding and to make funding more accessible to self-organized and informal youth movements.

Resolution 2250 has given us a solid foundation to work with young people to create a more peaceful world.  It can serve as a catalyst towards implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in those countries experiencing fragility, conflict and violence.

So let us move forward with greater determination to make best use of the opportunities this historic youth, peace and security framework has to offer for us all.  Thank you.