16th and 17th of July 2021
More than one hundred participants from a dozen provinces and Kabul, representatives of the State Ministry for Peace (SMP), the High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR), Ministry of Youth Affairs, the Embassy of Germany in Kabul, members of national institutions dedicated to peacebuilding, young peacemakers, academics, journalists and civil society activists participated in the second and main day of the conference.
The first day of the event provided an opportunity for thirty five participants from twelve provinces and youth activists from Kabul to work together to analyze previous activities undertaken within the framework of the project ‘Youth as Multipliers for Peace: Mobilization for and Participation in the Peace Process in Provinces’, funded in 2020 and 2021 by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany.
The project began in 2020 with an advanced Training of Trainers’ workshop in Kabul followed by two rounds of local and district level workshops and discussion fora across a dozen provinces aiming to develop common views and perspectives of young people on a peaceful future and collecting views about strengthening the peace process by directly engaging with several hundred young leaders in the target provinces. The project continued with provincial dialogue forums across provinces throughout the country followed by a day-long workshop of facilitators with the State Ministry for Peace in Kabul, culminating with the current one-day conference “National Youth Conference for Peace”.
The conference formally started with welcoming remarks by Mohammad Atif Faqirzada, representative of Mediothek Afghanistan. He shed light on the objectives of the conference, namely adding the perspective of Afghan youth from different provinces and districts on a peaceful future of their country and strengthening the participation of the young generation in a country where the average Afghan is younger than 18 years old.
Addressing the participants through a video message, Jan Hendrik van Thiel, Chargé d’affairs of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Kabul, said directly to the young participants that today was an important opportunity to put your concerns and ideas on the national agenda and in front of your national leadership. “Your concerns need to be heard by the men and women who lead your country as well as by us – the international community,” he added.
Mr. van Thiel also mentioned how Germany is engaging to make the voices of the rising generation be heard, pointing to the role of Germany as a former elected UN Security Council member in adopting the resolution on Youth, Peace and Security, selecting and backing young Afghan leaders to speak before the UN Security Council to raise the voices of Afghan youth, etc.. He promised that Germany will stand by the side of the people of Afghanistan and the young leaders and support them whenever it can.
Atta-ur-Rehman Salim, deputy chairman of the HCNR talked about the current state of peace talks and stressed that peace without involving all groups of Afghan citizens especially youth is not possible. “We are in a very difficult situation, so it is necessary for people from all walks of life across the country to play a role in the peace process and the ending of the war. …Reconciliation and peace will only be possible when the opposing group stops fighting”.
Dr. Alema, Deputy Minister of Human Rights, Civil Society and Acting Minister of SMP, also stressed the importance of the role of young people in national processes including the peace process. “You have a huge responsibility on your shoulders,” she told the young peacemakers, “you have to work together and mobilize in order to be able to carry on this duty.”
Dr. Idris Alekozai, Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs of the Ministry of Information and Culture, talked about the importance of consultation with youth on national issues especially the peace process. He said that youth are in a vacuum of information regarding the peace process and that participation and consultation on the peace process is one of the demands of this group and youth across the county.
Farah Mustafawi, head of Cultural and Youth Affairs at Mediothek Afghanistan, said that everyone is seeking peace, but the real need for peace among the citizens has not been stressed as much as it should be. War was devastating and prohibiting more than one generation of Afghans of a peaceful future.
A group of young peacemakers and members of Mediothek Youth Network had been working on drafting a position paper for several weeks. The position paper was analyzed and finalized during the first day of event and presented during the conference. It highlights the most pressing needs of youth, their ideas and views on peacebuilding and their demands. It stresses the need for a reconciliation process that is crucial to a lasting peace in the country.
The second part of the event was dedicated to a panel discussion of experts on the role youth in the peace process, challenges and opportunities. Participants had an opportunity to engage in a lively discussion with four experts.
At the concluding part of the event, participants engaged in group-work sessions to analyze the topics discussed and conduct a SWOT (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis of youth’s role in peacebuilding, conflict resolution and reconciliation. Results of working groups were presented for further discussions and consolidation and a final paper was agreed on as a result of the conference. Participants also worked on developing a future plan for the youth network on carrying on activities for ending the conflict, social cohesion and developing plans for a peaceful future.
The conference was organized in collaboration with the State Minister for Peace and Deputy Ministry of Youth Affairs.
