5.

1 (a) discuss the role on youth in violent conflict in an African country of your choice
(15 marks)

Initially, the relationship between youth and violence was only considered in the context of
the juvenile delinquency problem and the need to prevent violence and crime in society. The
World Programme first noted the “increasing difficulty for young people returning from
armed conflict and confrontation in integrating into the community and gaining access to
education and employment” in 1996. 108. Conflict was identified as an additional source of
concern for the situation of youth in 2001.

This special emphasis arose in response to the fact that young people are disproportionately
affected by violent conflict, both as victims and active participants. The World Programme
describes the impact of conflict on youth and emphasizes the role of youth in peace-building,
conflict prevention, and conflict resolution. It focuses on the role of youth and youth
organizations in promoting peace and nonviolence, as well as mobilizing youth for post-
conflict reconstruction. Young people are treated as a special target group in this
understanding of the relationship between youth and violent conflict, whose perspectives
should be included in processes to prevent or end conflict.

Engaging youth for the sake of representation is no longer a sufficient strategy. Many
disgruntled youth from around the world are being recruited for violence as a result of
extremist rhetoric. The phenomenon is common in conflict zones around the world. The
opportunity cost of not providing youth with the necessary education and vocational
opportunities, as well as identity and purpose, has surpassed that of a missed opportunity.
Rather, it has become a liability. As a result, questioning the need for a different approach to
dealing with youth appears to be a pertinent question.

According to the demographic approach, young people in Sudan fight because there are
simply too many of them. Other explanations emphasize coercion. Young people also fight
because they are forced to do so, either through physical abduction or a lack of other options
for survival. As a result, young people are not truly responsible for their decision to fight and
should be treated as victims rather than perpetrators of violence.

This viewpoint is particularly prevalent in the burgeoning literature on child soldiers, which
is largely produced by aid agencies and non-governmental organizations and is based, to a
large extent, on witness accounts of former child soldiers. These reports are pertinent to this
chapter because, while they focus on underage combatants, they also consider young people
over the age of 15. (Usually in the age range 15 to 18). The focus on child soldiers has
resulted in a powerful advocacy effort, which has resulted in a number of concrete outcomes.

These include the entry into force of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of
the Child, which raises the minimum legal age for the involvement of children in combat
from 15 to 18, the adoption of a number of resolutions on the protection of children's rights
by the United Nations Security Council, and the inclusion of special provisions for child
protection in the mandate of the United Nations. However, focusing on young people as
victims can have the unintended consequence of diverting attention away from other aspects
of the problem.

It has the potential to promote the notion of youth in conflict as a soft humanitarian concern,
divorced from economic, social, and political considerations and realities. According to
Angela McIntyre, "horror stories of rape, abduction, and systemic violence from the mouths
of children served their purpose” mobilizing and galvanizing sentiments against the use of
children as soldiers. However, when delivered by befuddled child victims to groups of
policymakers and activists far from home, they became irrational emotional appeals, stripped
of political meaning and ultimately alienating an important issue from broader discussions on
human security.

Indeed, new research indicates that there is an important component of volunteerism that
should be considered more closely when looking at young combatants. Rachel Brett has
observed that, rather than being forced or coerced, a large number of young people volunteer
for the armed forces. While children rarely seek out a war to fight in... For adolescents, war is
also an opportunity: for employment, escape from an oppressive family situation or
humiliation at school, adventure, or service to a cause.

Youth violence and decision-making

Nonviolent decision making: It is critical to recognize that, in general, the majority of youth
do not engage in violence in conflict situations. However, the motivations behind this
decision in South Sudan are poorly understood and researched.

Individual motivations in violent conflict differ significantly across gender, age, ethnicity,
religion, and other social, cultural, political, and economic group divisions around the world.
Cattle camp youth and urban gangs are important groups to consider in the context of South
Sudan.

One way that violence "transmits" within groups is through social norms. It has been argued•
that violence becomes a normalised way of life and survival in conflict settings.

Exclusion, culture, and family: Generational inequalities in South Sudan have grown rapidly
in recent decades; youth are largely excluded from formal political processes and continue to
be subject to age-based systems of authority. Some have emphasized the vulnerability of
youth to military capture, as well as family roles and responsibilities as the primary
consideration in youth decisions.

Insecurity: Much literature cites insecurity and the government's inability to ensure security
as a factor in local "youth" violence. When the conflict erupted in 2013, various ethnic and
youth militias, such as the White Army, Gelweng, and others, arose to protect their own
communities when the state failed.

Masculinity: achieving some level of financial independence, employment, and then starting
a family is a common requirement for attaining manhood in Africa; this can be disrupted in
post-conflict situations, leaving young men in a state of limbo and making them more likely
to engage in violence. Violent conflict is frequently associated with the production of
"militarised masculinities"; in South Sudan, these are being reproduced by both men and
women, reinforcing the link between masculinity and cattle rustling.

Marriage dowries: as male youth become increasingly unable to meet rising dowry (bride
price) demands, many join militias or join cattle raids. Power disparities: South Sudanese
politicians and military leaders are increasingly capable of mobilizing their youth base to
settle political scores. Young men's involvement in conflict can also serve as a means of
gaining empowerment.

(b) What can youth do to promote peace (10 marks)

The modern world is shrinking, becoming more integrated, and technologically advanced. It
is also becoming more fragmented, less peaceful, and dangerous for current and future
generations. Today's world is characterized by tension, violence, declining values, injustices,
and a lack of tolerance and respect for human rights. Gun culture has already taken hold in
the majority of developing countries, endangering the future of youths who deserve a
peaceful and better quality of life. A country's most valuable asset is its youth. They foster
the qualities of catholicity, personal integrity, discipline, and open-mindedness.

To achieve this goal, a number of critical developments have recently occurred, including the
December 2015 UN Security Council Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace, and Security, which
recognizes the positive contributions of youth to peace and establishes an overall framework
to support their efforts. The UN Peace building Fund launched its first Youth Promotion
Initiative in May 2016, which could play an important role in encouraging youth leadership
in peace building.

As a result, current trends indicate that there will be many more similar youth leadership
programs around the world in the near future, but the key to their success will be whether or
not such initiatives can also respond to wider socioeconomic, cultural, and political barriers
that young people face in their quest to become active agents of positive change, peace
building, and development.

The youthful stage is characterized by passions, emotions, activities, and vigour. Because of
their frontline positions in any country, their contributions to any development program will
go a long way toward achieving desired outcomes. There is no doubt that there is a greater
need to foster a culture of peace and conflict-free environment. This is an area where youths
can participate. One important role that young people can play in promoting peace and
conflict resolution is to "BE THE CHANGE."

Many young people around the world are victims of cultural, direct, and structural violence,
and they either become carriers of that violence or perpetrators of it. Politicians and
researchers have a strong tendency to view youth as a problem that must be solved. Many
young people, on the other hand, are peaceful and work to build peace. They, too, are
affected by various forms of violence and decide to work constructively to create a culture of
peace. Youth are undervalued as positive agents of change and key players in peace-building
by policymakers and academics alike. This paper investigates the role of youth as peace
builders, demonstrating their unique power and potential to affect social change through a
variety of examples.

Youth can accomplish this by altering their attitudes toward people, traditions, religion, and
beliefs. They must learn to balance their enthusiasm with patience, recognize the value of
living together, and take responsibility for defending the borders of peace and nonviolence.
Youths should also understand their leadership capacity by educating themselves on the
importance of community leadership and seizing opportunities to prioritize leadership
development programs, particularly in rural areas, because a lack of knowledge about basic
decision making stymies progress and, as a result, leads to conflicts.

Youths, on the other hand, can play an active role in peace and conflict resolution by forming
a new phalanx of peace missionaries and an NGO network at the grassroots level, focusing on
value education and spiritual renewal among children. In terms of ethnic development, youth
from various ethnic groups can forge links between cultural minorities and popularize shared
values, culture, and traditions passed down from generation to generation. Youths in the
political development sector can engage or join in political awareness building, lobbying for
bureaucratic reforms to ensure good governance, accountability, transparency, and citizen
participation.

On the international stage, youths can serve as peace ambassadors for their respective
countries, promoting exchange programs in education, culture, science and technology, sports
and games, and tourism promotion in order to connect all the youth of the region and the
world in the pursuit and maintenance of peace and conflict. Furthermore, youths should learn
new skills for dealing with conflict in nonviolent ways, as well as create a community that
lives by a nonviolent and multicultural credo.

Given the necessary opportunity and creating the opportunity for the youths to act with their
enthusiasm, we have a crop of people whom we have labelled as the leaders of "yesterday."
With all of this, and every youth knowing that wherever he goes, peace will be with him
because without peace, he cannot live, the twenty-first century will be a century of tolerance,
peace, and conflict-free living.
REFERENCES

Abrahamsen, R. (2000), Disciplining Democracy – Development Discourse and Good

Governance in Africa, London/New York: Zed Books.

Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action

(2003), Participation by Crisis-Affected Populations in Humanitarian Action – A Handbook
for Practitioners, London

Bannon. I. (2004),‘Development: The Neglected Road to Peace’, The Transatlantic

Quarterly, Summer

Bethke, L. (2004),Global Survey on Education in Emergencies, New York:Women’s

Commission for Refugee Women and Children.

AfDB, OECD, UNDP and UNECA (2012) South Sudan: Youth Unemployment Briefing,
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http://www.youthpolicy.org/national/South_Sudan_2012_Youth_Unemployment_Briefing.pd
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Almquist Knopf, K. (2013) Fragility and state-society relations in South Sudan, Africa Centre
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Andruga, J.M. (2016) ‘Together We Can’: Supporting local peace efforts in Nimule, Search
for Common Ground https://www.sfcg.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Nimule-Conflict-
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Breidlid, I.M. and A.O. Stensland (2011) ‘The UN Mission and local churches in South
Sudan: Opportunities for partnerships in local peacebuilding’, Conflict Trends, Issue 3.
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