STORY: Somalia's efforts with youth, peace and security

highlighted at special meeting of UN Security Council

TRT: 3:12
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LANGUAGE: SOMALI/ ENGLISH/ NATURAL SOUND
DATELINE: 09/SEPTEMBER/2020, NEW YORK, U.S.A

SHOT LIST:
1. Wide shot, file footage, Somali youth from all regions of the country gather for the
National Youth Conference held on 17 December 2017 in Mogadishu
2. Med shot, file footage, Khadija Mohamed Diriye, the Federal Minister for Youth and
Sports, speaking at the conference held on 17 December 2017 in Mogadishu
3. Wide shot, file footage, Somali youths from all regions of the country listening
during the National Youth Conference held on 17 December 2017 in Mogadishu
4. Med shot, file footage, Somali youth from all regions of the country listening during
the National Youth Conference held on 17 December 2017 in Mogadishu
5. Close up shot, file footage, Somali youth from all regions of the country listening
during the National Youth Conference held on 17 December 2017 in Mogadishu
6. Med shot, file footage, Somali youth from all regions of the country listening during
the National Youth Conference held on 17 December 2017 in Mogadishu
7. SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) MS. ROSEMARY DICARLO, UN UNDER-SECRETARY-
GENERAL FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS
“The continued support of the member states and importantly, the Security Council,
is needed to make further progress on this agenda. We must build on the fact that
the active participation and inclusion of young people, in political processes in peace
building, is no longer viewed as an optional or as an afterthought. It has rightly
become one of the cornerstones of the sustaining peace agenda.”

8. Wide shot, file footage, members of the Youth Advisory Board for Somalia held
discussions with the UN Assistant Secretary-General for peacebuilding support,
Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, at an event held on 13 September 2019 in Mogadishu
9. Med shot, file footage, members of the Youth Advisory Board for Somalia listening
during discussions held with the UN Assistant Secretary-General for peacebuilding
 support, Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, at an event held on 13 September 2019 in
Mogadishu
10. Med shot, file footage, Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, UN Assistant Secretary-General for
Peacebuilding Support; James Swan, UN Special Representative for Somalia; and
Abdiwahab Bilal Ahmed, the Chairman of the Youth advisory board at the meeting
held on 13 September 2019 in Mogadishu
11. Med shot, members of the Youth Advisory Board for Somalia listening during the
discussions held on 13 September 2019 in Mogadishu
12. Med shot, file footage, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support, Oscar
Fernandez-Taranco, speaking during the meeting held on 13 September 2019 in
Mogadishu
13. Close up shot, file footage, youth member from the Youth Advisory Board for
Somalia listening during the meeting held on 13 September 2019 in Mogadishu
14. Wide shot, file footage, members of the Youth Advisory Board for Somalia from all
regions of the country gather in Mogadishu for the National Youth Conference held
on 13 September 2019 in Mogadishu
15. Med shot, file footage, youth members from Youth Advisory Board for Somalia
asking questions during the meeting held on 13 September 2019 in Mogadishu
16. Close-up shot, file footage, taking notes
17. SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) JEAN- PIERRE LACROIX, UN UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL
FOR PEACE OPERATIONS
“Young people are essential actors of peace. In order for them to have this
opportunity, their needs need to be addressed; their voices amplified and their
engagement advanced.”

18. Med shot, file footage, youths engaged in a meeting at the, iRise Hub offices held on
8 October 2017 in Mogadishu
19. Med shot, file footage, youths engaged in a meeting at the, iRise Hub offices held on
8 October 2017 in Mogadishu
20. Med shot, file footage, youths engaged in a meeting at the, iRise Hub offices held on
8 October 2017 in Mogadishu
21. Close-up shot, file footage, laptop screen on the desk at the, iRise Hub offices
22. Wide shot, file footage, youths engaged in a meeting at the, iRise Hub offices held on
8 October 2017 in Mogadishu
23. Med shot, file footage, youths engaged in a meeting at the, iRise Hub offices held on
8October 2017 in Mogadishu
24. Med shot, file footage, one of the youths making a presentation in a meeting at the,
iRise Hub offices held on 8 October 2017 in Mogadishu
25. SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) JOAO SCARPELINI, FORMER UN YOUTH ADVISOR FOR
SOMALIA
“Although young Somalis face many challenges and have very limited opportunities,
long before the adoption of resolution 2250, they have been working to create
change, to build peace and to accelerate development. Very often, those are
informal groups of volunteers, that are creatively finding ways to mobilize their
 peers, and improve communities with limited resources and often without
institutional support.”

26. Med shot, file footage, group of youth walking to venue of the event at the
Mogadishu One Stop Youth Centre held on 14 October 2016
27. Med shot, file footage, musicians singing and playing music instruments at the
Mogadishu One Stop Youth Centre
28. Wide shot, file footage, guests and invited government officials watching
29. Med shot, file footage, former UN Youth Advisor for Somalia, Joao Scarpelini, making
his remarks during the event
30. SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) JOAO SCARPELINI, THE FORMER UN YOUTH ADVISOR FOR
SOMALIA
“Within days from the adoption, youth-led organizations supported by UNSOM held
a national event, that brought together 300 young women and men from across all
federal member states. At the event they formulated the Somali Youth 4 Peace Pact,
a local Somali-led, Somali-owned version of resolution 2250 with concrete
recommendations and local solutions to bring sustainable peace to the country.
None of these would have been achieved if we were not able to establish true
partnerships on the ground. Partnerships with the Somali authorities at different
levels. Partnerships with youth-led organizations and youth leaders. But specially, a
true partnership between UNSOM and the UN Country Team in Somalia.”

Somalia’s efforts with youth, peace and security highlighted at special meeting of UN
Security Council

Mogadishu, 11 September 2020 – The key role that young Somalis play in helping develop
their country came under the spotlight recently at a special meeting of the United Nations
Security Council on youth, peace and security.

“Although young Somalis face many challenges and have very limited opportunities, long
before the adoption of resolution 2250, they have been working to create change, to build
peace and to accelerate development,’ a former UN Youth Advisor for Somalia, Joao
Scarpelini, told the meeting.

“Very often, those are informal groups of volunteers, that are creatively finding ways to
mobilize their peers, and improve communities with limited resources and often without
institutional support,” he added.

The Council called for the virtual meeting – co-hosted by France and the Dominican
Republic on Wednesday and held under the so-called Arria-formula which allows for guest
speakers – to share lessons learned and best practices in relation to the implementation of
various resolutions on youth, peace and security in the context of UN peacekeeping
operations and special political missions, with the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia
(UNSOM) being one of the latter.

Previously, the Council has highlighted the key role that young people can play in conflict
prevention, conflict resolution, peace-building and sustaining peace, as well as the
importance of facilitating youth participation and leadership in these areas.

The Council’s resolution 2250, adopted in 2015, highlighted the critical role that young
people can play in conflict prevention and resolution and peace-building initiatives and the
importance of facilitating youth participation spaces. It was followed by other resolutions
which built on this in subsequent years, such as resolutions 2419 and 2535.

UN speakers

The meeting’s speakers included senior UN officials such as the Under-Secretary-General

for Political Affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, and the Under-Secretary-General for Peace
Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix. They spoke about their respective departments' work,
supporting implementing the resolutions, and best practices in implementing the youth,
peace, and security agenda by UN missions.

In her remarks, Ms. DiCarlo emphasized that the involvement of youth in peace initiatives
is a must and called for the effective implementation of the youth, peace and security
agenda, involving all key stakeholders.

“The continued support of the Member States and, importantly, the Security Council, is
needed to make further progress on this agenda,” Ms. DiCarlo said. “We must build on the
fact that the active participation and inclusion of young people, in political processes in
peace-building, is no longer viewed as an optional or as an afterthought. It has rightly
become one of the cornerstones of the sustaining peace agenda.”

On his part, Mr. Lacroix noted that peacekeeping missions are actively contributing to the
implementation of resolutions on youth, peace and security, but that more still needs to
be done.

“Young people are essential actors of peace. In order for them to have this opportunity,
their needs need to be addressed; their voices amplified and their engagement advanced,”
the UN official said.

Youth speakers

Other speakers included the Youth Adviser and Coordinator of the Youth, Peace and
Security programme at the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), a
representative from the UN Verification Mission in Colombia, and Mr. Scarpelini, now an
independent expert following four years of service in his youth advisory role for Somalia.
In his appearance before the Council meeting, Mr. Scarpelini said Somalia’s youth have
asked the international community for help “with very simple pleas: they wanted to be
heard and seen, they wanted their positive contributions to be recognized, and they
wanted agency and an opportunity to make a difference in the country they love so
much.”

He went on to say that the Council’s adoption of resolution 2250 was the opportunity and
recognition that many young Somalis were looking for.

“Within days from the adoption, youth-led organizations supported by UNSOM held a
national event, that brought together 300 young women and men from across all federal
member states. At the event they formulated the Somali Youth 4 Peace Pact, a local
Somali-led, Somali-owned version of resolution 2250 with concrete recommendations and
local solutions to bring sustainable peace to the country,” he said.

“The young people,” he continued, “also challenged the UN and partners to go beyond ad-
hoc initiatives and to establish mechanisms of participation that would create a
permanent platform for dialogue.”

Somali youth mechanisms

Those mechanisms were the annual Somali National Youth Conference, which provided a
platform for young people from different backgrounds, Federal Member States and clans
to come together and find common ground; secondly, the UN Youth Advisory Board,
established in 2018, to provide the UN family in Somalia with concrete recommendations
based on young people’s own lived experiences; and, thirdly, the Joint Galkayo Youth
Committee, an official mechanism to facilitate the engagement of young people into the
formal peace process in Galkayo.

“None of these would have been achieved if we were not able to establish true
partnerships on the ground. Partnerships with the Somali authorities at different levels.
Partnerships with youth-led organizations and youth leaders. But specially, a true
partnership between UNSOM and the UN Country Team in Somalia,” Mr. Scarpelini noted.

The efforts by UN peace missions to implement the resolutions on youth, peace and
security were broadly welcomed by the meeting’s attendees.

“Together with the Somalian government, UNSOM has been working to facilitate
the youth for peace pact and established a Youth Advisory Board,” said a
representative from Indonesia, Dian Triansyah Djani. “This helps to address stigma
and creates avenues for Somali youth to access quality education and employment
opportunities. We need to replicate this in other UN missions."