At the outset, I would like to say how happy I am to be in Iceland, this beautiful country that is full of beauty and vitality. I am delighted to be with you, and I thank the Reykjavík Peace Centre for hosting this important event.

When facing tiny or serious problems, we look for appropriate solutions, but how these solutions would look like counts upon many factors that vary from person to another, resting on the perception of the problem’s magnitude and seriousness, available options and willingness to take serious steps to reach what we believe to be the best solution. It has been said: we all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon. 

In this world that has been beset with different troubles, fair solutions draw almost nobody’s attention, and a significant portion of efforts made to resolve our problems has failed because they are lacking in justice, integrity and a clear vision for the future.

I will devote my word to an important aspect that any approach to the future must contain. I know that urgent issues are many and need to be approached from different angles and perspectives, but I have decided to to shed light on young people who are often called in conflicts but avoided when proposing compromises.

We have to believe in young people as an enormous power and creative energy, with enough potential to make peace and bring about change. We have to stop dealing with them as immature ones who are still lacking in wisdom, ability and experience to take part in peacebuilding and change.

Hopes and aspirations for a bright future would only be achieved when we let young people be a crucial part of the future’s equation. Success in achieving our desired future depends on empowering the youth to participate actively in conflict resolution and peacemaking, as well as to be vital part of processes of change and development experienced and urgently needed by societies.

As we mobilize young people and put them at the heart of the peacemaking equation, we must ensure that press and media platforms play also an effective role in promoting a culture of peace, coexistence and acceptance of others and raising people’s awareness about hatred and violence. Society’s political and intellectual elites, various media outlets and human rights activists should not relent in spreading peace’s culture, non-violence, love, coexistence and anti-hatred, and fighting the culture of violence, conflict and terrorism.

The struggle for political reform and a state of equal citizenship, justice and good governance is one of the most important areas for peacemaking and leadership of change.

 

Dear friends, 

Since the instability stems from oppression, injustice and severe crackdown on rights and freedoms, we can consider these human rights violations as form of war waged by corrupt and unjust regimes against their citizens. Therefore, leading a non-violent fight against such regimes is indeed a genuine part of the peacemaking process. I usually say: peace doesn’t mean just to stop the war, but also to stop oppression and injustice.

In many unstable countries, the youth account for the largest segment of the population, and it’s a strategic mistake not to involve this broad group in achieving stability. 

As you know, this situation of instability leads to depriving young people of the opportunity for quality education and qualifications required for active engagement in all fields, which in turn has a negative impact on the chances of building a lasting peace process and makes all efforts to achieve peace wasted.

When it comes to wars and armed conflicts, the youth, unfortunately, find themselves forced to choose between being merely tools of violence or victims, while they remain disenfranchised from another more convenient and cost-effective option: distance themselves from battlefields, depriving wars of the most essential and dangerous ingredients.  

It’s crucial to deal with young people as powerful agents of change and a vital force for peace so as to give them their rights, on the one hand, and to bring great benefits to other groups in societies and peoples on the other hand.

Young people are the real stakeholders in terms of bringing stability and finding solutions to the conflicts scattered across the planet, as well as of addressing causes of conflict and violence, suffered by many societies, at their roots. In fact, the youth are mainly the fuel used in these wars and conflicts. In any case they are victims, both when they get killed, when becoming refugees and displaced people everywhere, or when being denied opportunities for education.   

 

Dear friends, 

Among the biggest challenges for the world today are: protracted conflicts, growing religious polarization, record numbers of displaced people and effects of climate change. To address these challenges, bold and different approaches are needed. Coming up with appropriate solutions will require listening to the voices of young people, as sustainable peace could only be achieved through their active participation and by focusing on the positive changes the youth bring about in societies.

Young people can play a vital role in protecting communities from conflicts and wars by highlighting and addressing their causes and effects. Doing so is key to creating a lasting and comprehensive peace. 

If young people do not play an active and positive role in achieving peace and reconciliation, they will definitely play destructive roles in prolonging conflicts and wars, nurturing hatred and mutual exclusion among the different groups, components and forces of societies. 

To implement policies, programs and mechanisms needed to involve young people in the process of peacemaking and development is a strategic accomplishment that would lead to sustainable peace and comprehensive development for all society, including the youth.

The lack of participation of young people in the peace process will end up having a temporary, limited and incomplete peace. Any efforts for economic development in isolation from young people will be also doomed to failure.

 

 

Dear friends, 

It is not right to try, as some do, to blame young people for failures of development and political participation. In fact, the reasons of such failures lie in youth engagement policies and mechanisms themselves. This has resulted in growing violent and radical extremism among young people, and accordingly stability and development have been placed in jeopardy, which often impedes peace-building efforts and creates a fertile ground for conflicts. 

It’s urgently needed to take all international and national measures to address the conditions and factors, including the fight against poverty and ensuring a decent life for the youth, that may lead to growing extremism and radicalism among young people. Young people must have access to quality education and are immune from all that may lead them to violence and terrorism.

In case such conditions and factors are not effectively addressed at the national and national level, the door will remain open to terrorists and their supporters to attract and recruit young people to their ranks, taking advantage of the information and communications technology to communicate effectively in order to commit terrorist operations.

The Youth can play an important role in preventing and combating extremism and violence, but this process requires effective plans and multidimensional efforts at at international, regional and national levels to ensure that they are in positions that allow them to participate actively and play a leading role in the fight against terrorism. 

It is indeed regrettable that there is a plenty of proposals and perceptions for how young people could actively engage in peacebuilding, but no one is trying to take advantage of them. This sensitive issue doesn’t get enough attention, and this makes the future of peace seem uncertain.

 

Dear friends, 

Many things should be changed: ideas, individuals, policies, organizations and institutions. In this context, I believe, and many around the world also do, that there is an urgent need to develop and reform the United Nations so that it could play its part in obligating all member states to take the necessary measures in accordance with international law to ensure the protection of civilians, including young people, during and after armed conflicts. 

To oblige member states to respect and guarantee human rights to all individuals, including youth and women, within their territory and subject to their jurisdiction as provided for in the relevant international law.

It must be ensured that each individual state has the primary responsibility to protect its population from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity and that the perpetrators of such crimes do not escape prosecution and punishment.

The development and reform of the United Nations will enable it to oblige all parties to armed conflict to take the necessary measures to protect civilians, including youth and women, from all forms of violence. 

Member states is also obliged to comply with their respective obligations with regard to ending impunity and to investigate those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and other heinous crimes against civilians, including youth and women.

It’s also obligatory to ensure international prosecution against war criminals and perpetrators of massacres against humanity and prosecute those responsible for them in the International Criminal Court, ad hoc and mixed tribunals and specialized chambers in national courts.

Let’s recognize that there is a significant lack of appropriate youth policies that contribute positively to peace-building efforts, including social and economic development, support projects aimed at developing local economies, provide access to employment and vocational training for young people, promote their education and encourage entrepreneurship and political participation. 

The young people should be involved in developing policies, implementing plans, monitoring and evaluation of the implementation process, thus enabling them to assume appropriate leadership roles. There is an urgent need to take all international, regional and national measures to counter the growing wave of hatred and foster a culture of coexistence, peace, love, dialogue and tolerance between different cultures and religions. 

The political, financial and logistical support provided by national, regional and international plans, programs and funds is still either very limited or completely absent in many regions and countries. It should be ensured that young people are involved in peace-building efforts, contribute to development, and participate in efforts to sustain peace and ensure non-recurrence in post-conflict periods. 

The UN Peacebuilding Commission must be developed to give it the task of uprooting causes and factors of conflict and preventing wars.  Solutions and remedies should be developed as well to reduce the growing trends of extremism that lead to violence, extremism and terrorism among young people.

 

Dear friends, 

The world would be safer if young people get enough attention. I would assure you that the world will be more secure, peaceful and prosperous. The marginalization of young people is the wide door through which most of the disasters have afflicted us come from: poverty and low rates of development, the growth of crime Organization, violence, terrorism, conflicts and wars. 

The absorption of young people in the construction and development process helps to establish sustainable peace and security, and achieves our desired stability. 

Marie Curie, a renowned biochemist and Nobel laureate, was quoted by saying: "I never see what has been accomplished, but I see what has not yet been accomplished.”

Let’s try to inter into this spirit, and go on to reform and accomplish what needs to be done. We must be strong in the face of mistakes and take sides of the future. Nothing is better than to work hard in order to live tomorrow peacefully.