Over the past five month’s OGIP has published commentary on the COVID-19 crisis under our #YouthVoicesOnCOVID series. The series has demonstrated the important role that the voices, work and priorities of young people can play in response to this global crisis, both in terms of the immediate response and the long-term recovery. Young people are active members of their communities who are both disproportionately affected by the crisis and are working directly to respond to its impacts.
Young people in all of their diversity have the right to have their voices heard. They also have critical insight and creative ideas on how to tackle the devastating impacts of COVID-19. Through this blog series young people have provided timely and necessary commentary on the COVID-19 crisis and the threat the pandemic has posed to global peace and security, impacting many spheres of social, economic and political life.
The majority of these blogs have focussed on how COVID-19 has highlighted and exacerbated inequalities within society at all levels, from the community to national and global levels. The young contributors to this series have almost all called for large-scale, immediate action to tackle the impacts of the virus, situating this global crisis as a moment to radically reframe and transform the way society is structured and rebuild a more equitable world. Young people are presenting alternative ways of organising and responding that must be taken up in this moment for radical upheaval if we are to see sustainable transformation.
For example, Lorna Wightman presented a clear call for the localisation of peace processes as necessary to sustain peace during the pandemic and beyond, and strengthen responses to COVID-19. Hannah Edwards demonstrated the importance of ensuring young people, in particular girls, are given power in the decision making processes of humanitarian responses. And Genevieve Riccoboni presented the case for why decarceration is more important than ever due to COVID-19. In the context of the ongoing Black Lives Matter Protests and the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on people of color, particularly in the US and UK, Isadora de Moura, Florence Waller - Carr and Charlotte Mulhearn argued for the reconceptualisation of security in a more inclusive and intersectional way through the demilitarisation, defunding and dismantling of the police and wider systems of power and oppression.
It is likely that young people will be disproportionately impacted by the secondary impacts of COVID-19, both now and in the future, through losing access to education, livelihoods and sexual and reproductive health services. However, this should mean that young people are front and centre in shaping and driving forward the response. Young people from diverse backgrounds, communities and identities, must be leaders in responding to the crisis and rebuilding our world in a fairer and more equitable way.
Through this blog series OGIP has aimed to contribute to this reality and support youth voices to engage in the critical global discussion happening on COVID-19. There is still more to do in order for young people’s voices to be heard, in particular the voices of girls and other marginalized groups, and OGIP will continue to advocate for and facilitate this as the COVID-19 crisis unfolds and its secondary impacts continue to be seen across the globe.
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