(FOUNDER, EGOBEKEE FOUNDATION FOR BETTER LIVING)
AT THE INTERNATIONAL UN SDG YOUTH ENGAGEMENT 2021
ORGANISED BY EBONYI AMBASSADOR MOVEMENT, EBAM, IN CONJUNCTION WITH GLOBAL YOUTHS ADVOCATES FOR PEACE, JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT NETWORK ON THE 3RD OF JULY, 2021
Protocol/Recognition of Dignitaries:
Let me start by thanking Amb. Nwanchukwu and other Members of the organising Committee for making me a Speaker on the evergreen topic of *’Achieving Sustainable Peace: The role of the Youths’* in this Youth Engagement Event.
Sustainable Peace is the state of affairs in a given space which guarantees the carrying on of activities without hindrance or conflict over a period time or for a reasonable duration.
And sustainable Peace can be achieved if the needfuls are done by critical Stakeholders, paramount among are the Youths.
The Young People have critical roles to play in order to achieve sustainable peace.
Peace is golden and no meaningful development can take place in an atmosphere of rancor, acrimony and chaos.
Justice to all and Equity are veritable blocks for peacebuilding.
Various Groups and Stakeholders have several roles to play to engender peaceful co-existence in Society.
Youths are the catalysts of development but can be plunged into violence and conflicts.
The roles the Youths can play to achieve sustainable Peace include:
•Imbibement of the culture of Non-violence and Tolerance: Every Youth belongs to a Family which passes virtues and such Youths or Young People can decide to be tolerant and eschew involvement in violence of all kind.
The Youth can toe the path of peaceful living and to continually resist the temptation of being violent.
•Engagement in meaningful ventures: Youths should invest their time by being productive and earning a decent living.
A Young person who has something doing will not involve in acts that disrupt peace as he will be busy at work.
•Enlistment as Peace Advocates: Young People can form themselves into clusters to become Peacemakers and Agents of Peace, preaching the gospel of peaceful living and coexistence in their neighbourhoods and spheres of influence.
•Formation of Vigilantes: Youths can form Neighbourhoods’ Watches to secure their Neighbourhoods, gather and pass intelligence security information to security Agencies for actions.
This will go along way to bring about sustainable peace.
•Taking Government and Other Stakeholders to task for Peace: Youths can use their intellectual energy to impress on Government at all levels and others to put in place policies and programmes that can bring about Peace.
•Avoidance of strife and hatredness: the Young Ones should avoid bitterness against fellow humans and should see themselves as one and same People.
•Disarming warring parties, restoring order, decommissioning and destroying weapons, repatriating refugees, providing advisory and training support for security personnel, monitoring elections, de-mining and other forms of demilitarization, providing technical assistance, advancing efforts to protect human rights, reforming and strengthening institutions of governance-including assistance in monitoring and supervising electoral processes-and promoting formal and informal participation in the political processes, amongst others are other ways of seeing.
Ladies and Gentlemen, in conclusion, the Youths do have great roles to play in order that sustainable peace is achieved.
Thank you for your patience and the opportunity to share thoughts.
*Chief Mrs Rosemary Nwakaego Emmanuel,*
*Founder, EGOBEKEE FOUNDATION FOR BETTER LIVING*
Comments 1
Quite insightful. I pray we the youth receive these words in good faith and keep to them. This words are most timely when the country is boiling on every frontier…lets all chose peace. Thank you Ma,.