19 October 2020
The registration is open until 22 October 2020. Please fill the form.
Background
Youth is high on the agenda of peacebuilding, global and regional development due to various reasons, the key one being the demographic situation and future projections up to the year 2030 and beyond.It is projected that by 2030, the world will be home to 1.3 billion young people. As of 2018, the youth comprised 17.54 million or 26,4% out of the total of 66.53 million population in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. There are 32 million young people aged between 14 and 29 in Russia, i.e. 46.7% out of 146.7 million of the total population. There are many countries of the Eurasian region, which are “young”, and for which human capital is an abundant and still growing resource. This is why these countries need to prioritize youth and have policies on youth development, with investments in social infrastructure, education, and health in place.
Throughout the turbulent 1990s, the Central Asian region underwent immense structural, social, economic and ideological shifts. As a result, the societies experienced deep polarization and development imbalances in all fields. This presented challenges for nation-building and social cohesion. This situation was further aggravated by the spread of radical ideologies of various origins, including radicalization of the youth, labour and migration flows and broader globalized and geopolitical contexts.
As a result, the challenges of social cohesion and solidarity became inevitably linked to the issues of peace and development, both within these societies and in the region. For Central Asia and the wider region, the peace and peacebuilding agenda is the development agenda, and vice versa, as neither is possible without the other, and these, in turn, are intrinsically linked with youth-related issues.
The global COVID-19 pandemic increased and multiplied the existing challenges, revealing the lacuna and gaps that need to be overcome. More than ever the stabilization and the attainment of SDGs calls for a coherent approach for the countries of the Eurasian region to implement the shift from a demographic dividend into a peace dividend.
Against this background, the UNESCO Almaty Cluster Office joins the 2020 Nanjing Peace Forum by giving a voice to youth to enlarge and strengthen the networks of young peacebuilders in Eurasia, and to empower them to take the lead in the creation of a universal culture of human rights-based peace, stability and social cohesion.
Specifically, this session will focus on the positive role youth can play within the societies, fostering stability and social cohesion and conflict prevention; to reflect on the challenges related to the youth participation in the societies, and identify opportunities for support. With the aim of promoting and enhancing the role of young people in being active global citizens, the panellists are invited to share their insights and experiences about youth’s engagement in fostering stable and peaceful societies and peacebuilding from the social, cultural and gender perspectives.
The Session will address following topics:
- Youth challenges and opportunities of youth in building stable societies and promoting social cohesion;- COVID-19 impact on youth’s peacebuilding efforts;
- Youth recommendations on support of the youth sector in the promotion of culture of peace in the Eurasian region.
The Session will be conducted in the Russian and English languages.
Contacts:
Ms. Arina Myassoyed, a.myassoyed@unesco.orgPermanent link: http://en.unesco.kz/nanjing-peace-forum-2020-the-role-of-youth-in-peacebuilding