In the last decade, the African Union (AU) and the United Nationals (UN) have increasingly recognised the role and momentum of youth in peace and security, acknowledging the contributions of young people in Africa to conflict prevention, peacebuilding, and sustainable development. Despite these milestones, however, the involvement of young people in conflict-affected areas, particularly where Peace Operations are deployed, remains limited.
While frameworks have been developed at the AU and UN to advance the agenda for Youth Peace and Security (YPS), this has done little to change the lives of young people in conflict-affected areas. Rather, young people continue to be perceived as either perpetrators or victims of violence, and such perceptions presume that young people are easily lured into participating in violent actions in the context where widespread poverty, unemployment, and inequality are prevalent. This view, however, fails to appreciate the complex and diverse role of young people, as drivers of positive innovation and social change that contribute to peace, economic growth, and development.
Africa has the youngest, largest, and fastest-growing population in the world, yet the shared sentiments of real or perceived exclusion and inadequate representation persist among the youth, particularly in countries affected by armed conflicts. Unfortunately, these issues extend to Peace Operations, impacting their ability to mainstream Youth and the YPS agenda in the conceptualisation, mandating, and implementation of Peace Operations. As a result, the absence of a comprehensive mechanism to integrate youth perspectives and participation into peace efforts has exacerbated the challenges faced by young people, and has hindered the effectiveness of Peace Operations in addressing the root causes of conflict.
Consequently, in 2015 the UN Security Council adopted the landmark Resolution 2250 on YPS (UNSCR 2250), which acknowledged the important role that youth can play in the prevention and resolution of conflicts, and as a key aspect of the sustainability, inclusiveness, and success of peace operations and peacebuilding efforts. The UNSCR 2250 framework is set around five pillars: Participation, Protection, Prevention, Partnerships and Disengagement, and Reintegration, highlighting the role that the youth play in the promotion of international peace and security.
Subsequently, the AU established the Youth for Peace (Y4P) Africa Program in 2018, with the cardinal objective of dissuading youth from violence and facilitating their meaningful participation in all aspects of peace and security, in line with Article 17 of the African Youth Charter. In efforts to align the Y4P agenda with the UNSCR 2250 on YPS and the five pillars, the AU further developed the AU Continental Framework for YPS in 2020, which seeks to facilitate the meaningful participation of youth in all spectrums of governance, peace, and security, including Peace Operations in Africa.
Despite the progression of the YPS agenda, the integration of the 5 pillars remains inconsistent across various contexts in conflict-affected areas, and within Peace Operations.
As a consequence, the integration of young people and the YPS agenda in Peace Operations have been ad-hoc, primarily led by Troop Contributing Countries (TCCs) and Police Contributing Countries (PCCs). However, the same cannot be said for the Civilian Component of Peace Operations, which often recruits from a pool of established experts, resulting in limited opportunities for younger individuals to contribute their perspectives and skills. Although efforts have been made to recruit young people into the AU and UN through youth volunteer programs and internships, these initiatives do not fully integrate the youth and the YPS agenda in Peace Operations.
Although efforts have been made to recruit young people into the AU and UN through youth volunteer programs and internships, these initiatives do not fully integrate the youth and the YPS agenda in Peace Operations.
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Notably, in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) attributes its successes in intelligence and information gathering, in the fight against Boko Haram, to the Community-Based Armed Groups (CBAGs), which are largely composed of youth from different ethnic and religious backgrounds. It is evident, that the effectiveness of MNJTF involves the ad-hoc factoring of youth in the knowledge, capacity, information, and language gaps, highlighting the importance of young people in advancing peace and the mandate of missions. The effectiveness of MNJTF, however, is primarily influenced by prevailing circumstances and identified gaps, rather than the desired outcome of including the YPS agenda.
It is stated that the under-representation of young people in Peace Operations is partly due to the harsh environment in which Peace Operations are deployed, and the highly militarised nature of Peace Operations, which adhere to a strict chain of command. The UN Report on YPS has attributed the phenomenon of under-representation, to the lack of proactive instruments in Peace Operations that engage and mainstream youth and the YPS agenda in their activities. Many youth groups in host-nations have voiced concerns about their limited involvement in the missions, expressing concerns that young people are perceived as passive participants rather than active contributors to Peace Operations.
Studies and experience have demonstrated the importance of mainstreaming youth to build more effective, responsive, and accountable institutions, especially in accordance with humanitarian law and human rights standards. The integration of youth becomes more critical in countries affected by armed conflicts, and where UN and AU Peace Operations are deployed, especially in regions with a large youth population. However, the ad-hoc nature of mainstreaming youth and the YPS agenda in Peace Operations often leaves the mission in a position of inadequacy when addressing youth-related issues.
The AU Continental Framework for YPS highlighted the limited role and space for youth and youth-led initiatives in Peace Support Operations and Peacebuilding initiatives in the region, including election observation missions, humanitarian relief operations, post-conflict reconstruction programs, mediation missions, etc.
The UN Report on YPS has attributed the phenomenon of under-representation, to the lack of proactive instruments in Peace Operations that engage and mainstream youth and the YPS agenda in their activities.
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A UN-published report in 2023 evaluated the YPS agenda in UN Peace Operations, and it concluded that progress towards advancing YPS implementation was slow due to:
- limited and inconsistent resources;
- limited awareness and capacities;
- lack of an implementation road map;
- inconsistent planning, monitoring, and reporting on activities;
- limited data on activities, outcomes, and impact; and
- the need to clarify strategies to increase youth participation, including through more engagement with local youth-led organizations.
Interestingly, most of the initiatives that involve youth engagement and advancement in Peace Operations have often been linked to Quick Impact Projects (QIPs), to build confidence in the mission, its mandate, and the peace process. Quite often this is done by allocating resources for a specific task that will create conducive environments to advance communities, such as building schools, building economic/market centres, skills development, capacity building, etc. QIPs have been critical for Peace Operations in their engagement and support of the youth and youth-led initiatives, however, it has yet to be determined whether QIPs advance the YPS agenda in Africa. Unfortunately, more must be done to ensure that the YPS agenda has a footprint in the deployed AU and UN Peace Operations across the region.
In closing, conflicts often create unpredictable environments, which in turn alter societal norms, and affect the youth profoundly. Consequently, when young people actively express their needs, it is frequently in reaction to the shifting circumstances, which require a different approach to emerging challenges. This is the shared nature of Peace Operations and their establishment; therefore, it is critical to mainstream youth and the YPS agenda in Peace Operations. The YPS mainstreaming process requires the recognition of young people not only as beneficiaries of peace processes but also as essential peace actors whose involvement can lead to more holistic and sustainable outcomes in conflict resolution and peacebuilding efforts.
Wandile Langa is a Programme Officer at ACCORD
