The UN has long been at the forefront of efforts to involve young people in decision-making, and the last decade has seen significant progress, thanks to the adoption of a Security Council Resolution on Youth, Peace and Security which led to widespread changes in the ways that the voices of young people are not just heard, but also incorporated in peace plans and policies.
In 2021, after the Taliban takeover, Nila Ibrahimi and her family fled Afghanistan. Having been a vocal rights advocate since the age of thirteen, when she led a viral campaign that successfully overturned a government ban preventing Afghan girls over the age of 12 from singing in public, she knew that she risked being a target of the new regime.
After spending time in hiding, she now lives in Canada, but she hasn’t left activism behind. From her new home, she started HerStory, an organisation dedicated to documenting the experiences of girls both inside Afghanistan and across the diaspora.
“I do my best to tell the stories of girls who have been banned from going to school. I was able to graduate but my friends are still stuck in time in the ninth grade. It’s emotional work, but I think that if it motivates just one person to do something, then I think that I have done enough”.
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Active partners in peace
Ms. Ibrahimi was speaking to UN News at an event held on 15 December to mark the tenth anniversary of Security Council Resolution 2250, which formally recognises young people as active partners in maintaining and promoting international peace and security.
Around half the people on the planet are under 30, which makes them the generation with the greatest stake in our common future. Nevertheless, they are often excluded from the spaces where solutions to our most intractable issues are shaped.
Since the adoption of the resolution, the UN has supported a host of initiatives implementing the recommendations it contains. For example, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, The Gambia, and Honduras developed Youth, Peace & Security (YPS) national and local action plans; the African Union held Africa’s first continent-wide dialogue on YPS, culminating in the Bujumbura Declaration; and 11 countries, from Africa to the Middle East, Asia and Europe, have so far enacted YPS action plans that are aligned with Resolution 2250.
Afghanistan, still ruled by the Taliban, is not one of them. However, Ms. Ibrahimi, who has often felt that she is ploughing a lonely furrow, remains undaunted and dedicated to continuing the fight for women’s rights.
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“It really struck me, in the conference, that I’m in the same room as some people who I would never have had the opportunity to meet and learn about the ways that they have implemented strategies to empower youth in their countries,” she reflects. “Just being in their presence has been a big privilege and opportunity to not just talk about my own story and raise the voices of Afghan women but also learn from others”.
Act now for peace
The 15 December events culminated in a Peace Circle, featuring Ms. Ibrahimi, several other young leaders, and senior UN officials, diplomats and academics. Peace Circles grew out of a major UN initiative, as part of the flagship Act Now campaign. They are informal dialogues on subjects connected to peace, which could range from subjects as wide-ranging as education gender equality, climate and technology. At least half of the participants have to be under 30, with an emphasis on young people who are often not at the table and new to UN spaces.
The Act Now for Peace campaign runs until September 2026, and the discussions held at the Peace Circles will directly feed into a number of UN projects, including the UN Secretary-General’s Independent Study on youth contributions to peace, and a Global Youth Peace Manifesto.
Find detailed information on how to set up a Peace Circle here.
