With the New Year fast approaching we have almost arrived in 2020; 20 years on from the adoption of Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) in the chamber of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Since then the policy framework of WPS has started to take shape with 10 new resolutions passed, countless speeches and commitments made by Governments around the world, and thousands of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) lobbying for transformation.
The agenda is continually changing, shaped by the context surrounding it and those working to drive it forward. Over the past 20 years there have been substantial developments recognising the important role of young people, within the WPS agenda and beyond, with the role of youth becoming a key focus of the United Nations in recent years.
OGIP takes a look back over the last 20 years, highlighting five important moments for youth participation and sets out a vision for what the next 20 years could look like for diverse groups, including young feminists, in the peace and security field.
Looking back: significant moments for youth engagement
1.) The passing of United Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) was a historic moment in which the Council recognised and addressed the disproportionate and unique impact of armed conflict on women and their role as active agents of change in peace and security. Although the resolution did not address the position of youth or the intersections of marginalization, it created a mandate to expand and explore marginalized identities that had not yet been afforded attention by the Security Council.
2.) The creation of the first ever UN Envoy on Youth in 2013 established a mandate to bring the voices of young people to the United Nations ecosystem. The current Envoy Jayathma Wickramanayak has focused her work on young peacebuilders, bringing youth into international spaces and promoting young people and their work at the grassroots level.
3.) The creation of the Youth Peace and Security Agenda (YPS) and subsequent overlap between WPS and YPS has been central in driving forward the focus on youth. In the United Nations the WPS agenda was well established and lay the groundwork for the creation of a comprehensive framework to address the specific needs of and opportunities for young people. This was enshrined through UN Security Council resolution 2250 (2015), which was largely driven by CSOs, and identified the need to ensure the inclusion and participation of youth in peace and security efforts.
4.) Following the creation of YPS, substantial research was undertaken to inform programming and policy on young women in peace and security; specifically, the Progress Study on YPS (mandated by UN Security Council resolution 2250 (2015)) which intended to review the current role of youth and put forward recommendations for improvements to the inclusion of young people. As part of this research, a report on the intersection of the YPS and WPS agendas was undertaken by UN Women which aimed to ensure that young women’s voices and experiences are heard, and that young women have opportunities to meaningfully contribute to building and sustaining peace.
5.) Just last year the first ever ‘International Symposium on Youth Participation in Peace Processes’ was held in Helsinki, Finland and provided an International platform for young people to come together for a moment of global advocacy to highlight the role of youth in peace building.
Looking forward: what still needs to change
Although substantial efforts have already been made to include women and youth voices in peace and security spaces, there is still a long way to go. The inclusion of these voices does not go far enough in dismantling the hierarchies and power structures inherent in international organisations or decolonizing peace and security spaces. The growing focus on youth in the past 20 years provides positive impact in ensuring young people are represented in international security spaces, however, simply slotting youth into these spaces without radically transforming them does not allow for the representation of diverse youth voices, or other marginalized communities.
The work undertaken thus far provides us with stepping stones to reach the ultimate goal of diversifying the peace and security field, making way for intersectional analysis and making the field more accessible. The inclusion of women and youth in peace and security spaces opens up the door further to allow more conversations about who is represented, how they are represented and why.
The 20th Anniversary of WPS in 2020 gives us an opportunity to reflect on the past and think about the future. It is essential that we take this moment to commit to making the necessary changes to see further improvements to the position of young people and marginalized groups in these spaces, ensuring that the United Nations and the global peace and security architecture account for the diversity and intersectionality of all people affected by conflict.
In the next 20 years OGIP hopes to see the following:
- Fundamental changes to the assumptions that underlie both WPS and YPS - breaking down international power structures and challenging whose voices are deemed to be valid in these spaces;
- Changes in the language of peace and security to become more inclusive, acknowledging multiple and intersecting identities that go beyond stereotypes and assumptions;
- The synergies and relationships between WPS and YPS are developed to go further, ensuring the representation of diverse communities, including young women, in peace and security;
- For both WPS and YPS to give focus and attention to the issues that are highlighted as central to young people and marginalized groups, including the climate crisis and climate justice, LGBTI+ rights and sexual and reproductive health rights;
- The integration of diverse youth voices and issues into all spaces and discussions rather than being siloed into spaces simply focused on youth and addressing ‘youth issues’.