Work Together to Develop a Possible Lasting Peace Connecting Youth with Their Communities
Session 4A – Theme IV
Sharm El Sheikh: September 2, 2007:
The session on "Connecting Youth with Their Communities" was held on day two of the International Youth Forum at Aswan Hall. The session assessed various means for promoting youth involvement in leadership as well as empowering youth to promote their ideas, make their own initiatives, and take action for themselves.
The session was moderated by David Adams, Former Director of the Unit for the International Year for the Culture of Peace, UNESCO and Founder of the Global Movement for a Culture of Peace. Half way through the session, Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak joined one of the young participants' roundtable discussions.
"It is important to distinguish peace and culture. For a large portion of people, peace is the absence of war. What we need to understand is that underneath all wars is a culture of war that have been dominating for thousands years. If we want to talk about replacing war, then we have to change from a culture of war to a culture of peace," said David Adams. "The culture of war and a culture of peace constrain our societies; it is whether or not the economy is based on cooperation or exploitation. People should work together to develop a possible lasting peace."
Quoting UNESCO, he continued "a peace based exclusively upon the political and economic arrangements of governments would not be a peace which could secure the unanimous, lasting and sincere support of the peoples of the world, and... peace must therefore be founded, if it is not to fail, upon the intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind."
In this context, Mrs. Mubarak commented: "Youth need to learn how to dialogue, how to share, listen, tolerate, accept others and share. If we want to build peace, we have to teach peace." She continued: "Values, such as listening, are taught. Skills are learned and not acquired by chance and this is why it better be at an early age."
The session featured notable speakers including Ehab Abdou, President and Co-Founder of the local NGO Nahdet El Mahrousa, Tom Burke, Trustee of Peace Child International and Director of youth-led UK social enterprise, Kim Plewes, International Youth Coordinator of Free the Children/Me to We Movement, and Catherine Baylin, Teacher at John D. Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement, the American University in Cairo. Throughout the session, the speakers provided the young audience with their field expertise and recommendations based on their entrenched experience.
During the session, youth explored different ways of involving youth in leadership. They suggested action plans and collaborative initiatives to utilize youth’s special talents in contributing to social development.
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