Hurray! We did it! Good news! It is now official! Congratulations! Awesome!💃💃💃💃💃
Nigeria has successfully launched the National Action Plan (NAP) on Youth, Peace, and Security (YPS)!💯💯👏👏
Yes, we now have a working document on YPS!🙏🙏🙏👍👍👍
These are some of the responses we have been getting since yesterday when the NAP on YPS was launched. Yet, for some persons, they received the news with feelings of indifference. This feeling can be tied to their lack of awareness about the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2250 on Youth, Peace, and Security or what it means for the work that they do as young people.
In this article, I will be providing a brief overview of the UNSCR 2250, the launch of the Nigeria NAP on YPS, and what it means for Nigerian youths.
Understanding the Youth, Peace, and Security Agenda
All through history, young people have played an active role in both war making and peacebuilding. However, when it comes to formal peace negotiation processes, they are largely ignored. In fact, popular discussions about young people usually focus on their role in spearheading conflict and violence. They are often regarded as the central character in socio-political violence and as threats to sustainable peace in their communities.
To transform this stereotypical narrative, on December 9, 2015, during its 7573rd meeting, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) under the leadership of Jordan unanimously adopted the UNSC Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace, and Security. Prior to this time, there had been no resolution that completely addressed young people’s interest in peace and security. This resolution therefore represents the first formal effort made by the United Nations and its member states in recognizing and acknowledging the positive contributions of young people to promoting and maintaining international peace and security. All member states, including Nigeria, also agreed to implement the resolution in their domains, in order to tap into the potentials of young people for peace.
The main objective of the UNSCR 2250 is to recognize young people as equal partners for peacebuilding, marking a shift in the negative narratives of young people as troublemakers and perpetrators of violence to their recognition as peacebuilders and positive assets to their community. It also highlights gender equality as a tool for peace, drawing from the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security. The resolution provides a framework for viewing, addressing, designing, and evaluating peacebuilding activities of young people. The resolution focuses on five action plans that makes up the YPS agenda:
1. Participation: Urges member states to consider ways to increase inclusive representation of youth in decision-making at all levels in local, national and international institutions, and mechanisms for conflict prevention, conflict resolution, and for countering violent extremism. It urges member states to support local youth peace initiatives and empower youth in peacebuilding.
2. Protection: Calls for the protection of young people from all harm, including sexual/gender-based violence, especially during armed conflict and post-conflict situation/environment. Protecting youths also implies investigating and prosecuting those responsible for the crimes carried out against young people.
3. Prevention: It urges member states to facilitate an inclusive and enabling environment in which youth actors are recognised and provided with adequate support to implement violence prevention activities and support social cohesion.
4. Partnership: It urges member states to increase their political, financial, technical, and logistical support that takes account of the needs and participation of youths in peace efforts, in conflict, and post-conflict situation.
5. Disengagement and Reintegration: It encourages all those involved in the planning for disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration to consider the needs of youths affected by armed conflicts. Also, by keeping the focus on helping to rehabilitate the few youth involved in violence, DDR efforts can become more sustainable.
The Road to the Nigeria National Action Plan on Youth, Peace, and Security
Since the adoption of the UNSCR 2250 in 2015, there have been two subsequent resolutions 2419 (2018) and 2535 (2020) to complement frameworks for realizing the Youth, Peace and Security Agenda. In Nigeria, there have been several efforts aimed at strengthening the Youth, Peace, and Security Agenda both locally and nationally. At the local level, the adoption of the UNSCR 2250 provided a platform for Nigerian youth to participate actively in peacebuilding. The awareness of the resolution and its provisions brought more youths into the peacebuilding sphere, with several of them establishing non-government organisations to help them make an impact in their community in several sectors.
Since then, these youth-led organisations have been using the resolution as an effective advocacy tool to call for the implementation and domestication of the resolution both at the local, state, and national level. Another worthy step towards the national implementation of UNSCR 2250 and the YPS Agenda in Nigeria was the establishment of the Nigeria Coalition on Youth, Peace and Security, a multi-sectorial platform for youth and non-youth groups working on peace and security.
At the national level, the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sport Development (FMYSD), the Centre for Sustainable Development and Education in Africa (CSDEA), and the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) decided to collaborate with relevant stakeholders to develop a NAP on YPS to domesticate the five pillars of the UNSCR 2250. This process entailed engaging stakeholders via a national youth forum; organising in-person consultations in the form of zonal workshops, community level focus group discussions, and national conferences; online consultations and meetings; and national validation meetings. Building Blocks for Peace Foundation played a very key role in the entire process leading to the adoption.
The result of all of these deliberations, validations, and advocacy campaigns, including the use of social media hashtags like #ActOn2250, #Yes4YPS, #Youth4Peace, #NigeriaYouth4Peace, etc have borne fruit with the domestication of the UNSCR 2250 in Nigeria. On 1st November 2021, Nigeria launches its first National Action Plan on Youth, Peace, and Security, becoming the first country in Africa and the second in the world after Finland to have a NAP. The event, which took place during the first National Youth Conference held in Abuja brought together over three hundred youth delegates from various parts of the country. Important dignitaries at the conference included the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Honourable Minister Mr. Sunday Dare (FMYSP), among other important representatives.
According to the Honourable Minister of Sport, the National Action Plan was designed to complement existing national, regional, and institutional policy initiatives, and to reflect Nigeria’s commitment to ensuring the meaningful engagement of youth in conflict prevention, post-conflict, and peacebuilding efforts. It is also intended to serve as a useful guide to Federal, State, and Local Governments, as well as other non-governmental stakeholders to ensure that their various programmes address youth needs in all the pillars of the UNSCR 2250. The NAP is to span for three years (2021-2024).
You can download the soft copy of the Nigeria National Action Plan on UNSCR 2250 here:
https://bbforpeace.org/ypslibrary/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/YPS-NAP-RS.pdf
Now, that we have succeeded with the launch, all hands must be on deck to ensure that the Nigerian government and all relevant stakeholders begin to take concrete steps towards its implementation.
What does this resolution mean for young people?
The UNSCR 2250 places young people at the centre of peacebuilding agenda, serving as an important document that helps to change the negative perceptions and prejudices people hold against youth. This resolution provides legitimacy, visibility, and recognition to young people’s efforts in issues related to peace and security.
Irrespective of the sector where you work, the UNSCR 2250 and by extension the Nigeria NAP is an important document that can be used in reminding the government of the need for meaningful inclusion of young people in all sector. The UNSCR 2250 offers an instrument for young people to ensure that youth participation in peace talks is not just an afterthought but is an essential part of the peace design. It shows that young people need to be in the driving seat when it comes to peacebuilding process.
Let’s say you are interested in running for political or leadership position but you are being denied the opportunity to participate simply because of your age, the UNSCR 2250 and the NAP offers an instrument, letting them know that the first pillar of the resolution calls for meaningful participation of young people.
The resolution serves as an effective advocacy tool for youth peacebuilders and Nigerian youths to approach government, local and international institutions to support youth-led peace initiatives and create an enabling environment to support youth leadership.
It is worthy to note that Building Blocks for Peace Foundation (BBFORPEACE) has also documented some of the ways through which young Nigerians have been leveraging on the provisions contained in the UNSCR 2250 to scale up their peacebuilding interventions. In its published book titled, “Connecting and Amplifying Voices of Youth Building Peace in Nigeria”, the organisation profiles, showcases, and highlights the positive contributions of young people to peacebuilding and sustainable development in Nigeria.
Finally, we must begin to ensure that the document gets the recognition that it deserves. NGOs and CSOs should also begin to use the NAP as an advocacy tool to scale up their work and to empower young people to participate actively in peacebuilding.
References
FMYSD. (2021). Nigerian National Action Plan on Youth, Peace, and Security: An Adoption of UNSCR 2250, 2021-2024. Nigeria: Federal Ministry of Youth and Sport Development.
Lawal, R.A., Akhigbe, A.O. and Effevottu, E.S.(2020). (Eds). Connecting and amplifying voices of youth building peace in Nigeria. Nigeria: Building Blocks for Peace Foundation. https://bbforpeace.org/publication/Connecting%20and%20Amplifying%20Voices%20of%20Youth%20Building%20Peace%20in%20Nigeria.pdf
UNSCR 2250. (2015). UNSCR 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security. New York: UN.