“Serious consideration is critical if we want to fully realize the potential of our young men and women. We have to equip them with knowledge, attitude, skills and competences,” said State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam.

He mentioned that global events continue to remind all of the urgent need to engage the young men and women in peace building efforts. “It is time, for us-the adults- to go to them and partner them in the peace making and peace building.” 

The State Minister was addressing a high-level meeting of the friends of mediation on ‘Engaging Youth in Mediation: A step towards lasting peace’ at the UN headquarters on Thursday.

The Group of Friends of Mediation has gathered already eight times during UNGA to discuss different aspects of mediation. 

Given increasing interest and need for wide support for UN mediation efforts, they decided to open the discussion this year to the whole membership of the United Nations.

The State Minister shared four ideas as to how they can engage young people in conflict prevention and mediation process. 

“We can develop community projects to train and equip young women and men in mediation, ICTs, life skills, and entrepreneurship. With these new skills they can become peace leaders who work within their communities to cultivate peace,” he said sharing first idea.

Sharing his second idea, he said cultural context is also important while mediating for conflict resolution. 

Shahriar said the intergenerational gap that they see in today’s world make the difference in the way they view a conflict situation and the post-conflict implications attached to it. 

“Young men and women have their own view in their cultural milieu. They focus more on their interests in a post-conflict situation, not on the sources of conflict. This world view could have the potential to innovate new mediation technique,” he said.

The State Minister said there could be initiatives at regional and global level and all actors at sub-regional and regional level can also be motivated to play their roles. 

“The international community should work to create opportunity for the young people from different regions to meet and share their ideas and exchange evidence and lessons learned,” he said.

Shahriar said they can build awareness in nations to reach out to the young people and the idea of mediation can be included in the academic curricula. “The curricula may include ownership, leadership and accountability of the youth in peace building. The national plan of actions can incorporate this idea.”

He said the call for inclusion in mediation processes should not be limited to the conflicting adults, it should include each sections of the society including the youth.

The United Nations has been in the forefront for many decades in keeping and building peace. 

However, Shahriar said, the role of mediation has not been tried innovatively and the UN Secretary General has recently urged all to commit more to effective mediation. 

“Now, the role of youth being recognized, we need to explore ideas on how we can engage this vast resource,” he said