Events

UNESCO is organizing with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) an “Expert Group Meeting on the Regional Strategy on Youth, Peace and Security in Arab States” at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, on 21 and 22 November 2017.

The objective of the expert meeting is to build on the conducted consultations at country and regional levels as well as the High-Level Partnerships’ Meeting, in order to consolidate validate the 2018 – 2021 Regional Strategy on Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) in Arab States as framework for comprehensive and coordinated action.

This meeting is organized following the adoption of Resolution 2250 on “Youth, Peace and Security” on December 2015 by the UN Security council which recognizes that young women and men play an important and positive role in maintenance and promotion of international peace and security.

In December 2015, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a very first Resolution 2250 on “Youth, Peace and Security”, recognizing that young women and men play an important and positive role in maintenance and promotion of international peace and security. As crucial part for its implementation, the SCR 2250 mandates the Secretary-General “to carry out a Progress Study on Youth’s positive contribution to peace processes & conflict resolution”, to recommend effective responses at local, national, regional and international levels”, to be presented to UN Member States in December 2017 (2nd Anniversary of SCR 2250).

In this context, the Regional Consultation and High- Level Dialogue on Youth, Peace and Security in Arab States, jointly organized by UNFPA ASRO, UNDP, UNESCO, and the Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO) took place from 4-6 December 2016 in Jordan, gathering 65 young people from 18 Arab Countries; as well as decision makers, civil society organizations, and international\regional partners. It was the first of a series of regional consultations worldwide for the Progress Study; and, equally provided an important opportunity to support a strategic dialogue on SCR 2250 to support concrete change on the ground.

Based on the meeting’s recommendations, and along its identified partners, UNFPA ASRO and UNESCO started to invest in supporting: conducting national consultations on YPS in Libya, Egypt, Palestine, Tunisia and Morocco; as well as, a Sub-Regional Consultation on Youth Peace and Security in North Africa.