By Muhammad Shoaib Khan – LIPR Research Writer
Youth are an important factor in peace and conflict resolution as they stand the chance of been used as elements for violence, hooliganism and conflict-making. There are several cases in different countries where terrorism is the order of the day. Also, the elite and power hungry politicians make youth in their communities cause problems so that they can achieve their own selfish interests in government. The youth are vulnerable to these proposals because they don’t have the right of proper education, especially in third world countries.
In spite of all these challenges and problems the youth must be responsible enough to design their future based on their vision. They should be empowered and motivated to be change agents in our atmosphere. Youth of any nation have strength, mental alertness, speed, ideas and information necessary to create positive change. They must be catalysts for change and not catalysts for destruction. It is upon the youth to become men in their thoughts and mental capability, rather than just in their physical fitness or vigour.
The world today is passing through an environment full of tension, violence, declining values, injustices, reduced tolerance and respect for human rights. These problems are threatening future of the youths who deserve a peaceful and better quality of life.
Youth are considered as wealth of any country. They develop quality of personal integrity, discipline and open mindedness. The youthful period is a period of passions, emotions, activities and vigour. Because of their frontline positions in any country, their input to any development programme will go a long way in achieving desired objectives. No doubt that there is a greater need to create culture of peace and conflict free environment, and youth can do so with commitment. We have a number of examples around the world where youth are giving their best for prosperity in their societies. Girls like Malala Yousufzai are working hard to overcome several issues related to Youth around the world.
Now youth should learn to combine their enthusiasm with patience, realizing the importance of living together and should be responsible to defend the frontiers of peace and non-violence. They should equally understand their leadership capacity by educating themselves on the need for community leadership and taking opportunities available to prioritize leadership development programme especially within them in rural areas because lack of knowledge about basic decision making impedes progress and therefore results in conflicts.
On the other hand, the youth can play an active role in peace and conflict resolution by forming a new phalanx of peace missionaries and NGO network in the grassroots, concentrating on value education and spiritual renewal among children.
In the area of ethnic development, the youth of different ethnic groups can forge links between cultural minorities and popularize shared values, shared culture and traditions handed down from generations to generations. The youths on the political area of development can engage or join in political awareness building, force reforms in bureaucracy to ensure good governance, accountability, transparency and citizenry participation.
Internationally youth can become peace ambassadors of their respective countries, promoting exchange programmes in education, culture, science and technology, sports, tourism and media interactions, promotions to link all the youth of the region and the world in the pursuit and maintenance of peace and conflict. In addition, the youths should learn new skills to deal with conflict in non-violent ways and create a community that lives by a doctrine of non-violence and multicultural appreciation.
This however must be done with the present crop of people whom we have termed as the leaders of ‘yesterday’ given the necessary chance and creating the opportunity for the youths to act with their enthusiast.
With all this and with every youth having at the back of his mind that wherever he goes, peace is with him because without peace, he cannot live, then every year would be a year of tolerance and peace around the world
Positioning of youth in any society has a bearing on their leadership potential and their possible role in peacebuilding. The tension between young and old has been one of the key features of inter-generational shifts pertaining to the control over power, resources and people. The tension lies in the palpable impatience of youth, their desire to strive for more, their willingness to be seen as responsible and capable, and the structural barriers to their social mobility. Independence from others and responsibility for others, such as taking care of a family or household, can be seen as defining markers of pre-requisites of social adulthood. What needs to be underlined is that youth should be conceptualized and studied as agents of positive peace in terms of addressing not only the challenges of physical violence, but also the challenges of structural and cultural violence, and the broader social change processes to transform violent, oppressive and hierarchical structures, as well as behaviour, relationships and attitudes into more participatory and inclusive ones.
To understand the engagement of youth in peacebuilding, youth mobilization and reintegration is important. It is imperative to provide youths with training opportunities to take an active part in peacebuilding. With their youthful energy and capabilities, and ability of adaptation to new technological trends, for example, youths could act as mediators, community mobilisers, humanitarian workers and peace brokers. Like any particular conflict affected population group, the mobilisation of youths’ capacities requires a targeted and long-term approach. So engagement of youth in peacebuilding in a wider perspective can be ensured through the arts, culture, tourism, sports and education. The innovativeness and creativeness of young people in those areas could be mobilised effectively by connecting them with wider peacebuilding objectives such as building bridges between divided communities and ensuring a viable process of reconciliation.
Examples from across the world of the contributions that the young make towards peacebuilding such as the strengthening of community cohesion, reconciliation and trust-building among different factions of life
Objectives of youth can be achieved if youth leadership programmes across the world in the near future could be organized, but it depends that whether or not such initiatives can also respond to wider socio-economic, cultural and political barriers that young people face in their quest of becoming an active agent of positive change, peacebuilding and reconciliation.
