The Fourth (4th) Open Session of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union, on Youth, Peace and Security in Africa

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février 28, 2022

The Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU) will hold its fourth open session on youth, peace and security on 3^rd March 2022 on the progress made in the implementation of the Continental Framework for Youth, Peace and Security and its 10-Year Implementation Plan. The PSC will also officially welcome the second cohort of African Youth Ambassadors for Peace (AYAPs), who were selected following a competitive process in November 2021 and endorsed by the 35th Ordinary Session of the AU Heads of State and Government in February 2022.

The second cohort of AYAPs is made up of five young people representing the five regions of the AU, who will serve a two-year nonrenewable mandate from February 2022 to February 2024. The new AYAPs are Achaleke Christian from Cameroon (Central Africa), Ms. Diana Chando from Tanzania (East Africa), Ms. Khouloud Baghouri from Tunisia (North Africa), Ms. Cynthia Chigwenya from Zimbabwe (Southern Africa) and Mohamed Kunta from Sierra Leone (West Africa).

The PSC open session will bring together AU Member States, young people and representatives of youth organizations in Africa, the AU Commission leadership and representatives of the UN system, the international community, civil society organizations, think tanks, and representatives of the media etc.

It must be noted that since 2018, the Youth, Peace and Security agenda in Africa has taken centre stage in the AU’s programmatic work and has been increasingly institutionalized and mainstreamed by the Commission in collaboration with the Regional Economic Communities and Regional Mechanisms (RECs/ RMs) through the Youth for Peace Africa Programme, following the finalization and adoption of the Continental Framework on Youth Peace and Security and its 10-year implementation plan.

The program engaged with quite a number of young people and youth organizations across the Continent, through capacity building programmes on several thematic issues including peacebuilding, conflict prevention, mediation, human rights and humanitarian law etc. At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the program hosted six continental and five regional online sessions to encourage knowledge and experience sharing on issues of youth, peace and security. The program also implemented AYAPs-led activities to advance youth participation in governance peace and security, and to strengthen national and regional initiatives for inclusive and sustainable peace and development.

It must be recalled that the Youth for Peace Agenda in Africa is guided by AU normative frameworks including the AU Constitutive Act via Articles 3(f) and (g) as well as 4(c), (i) and (m); Article 20 of the PSC Protocol; Article 11 and 17 of the African Youth Charter; and Aspirations 4 and 6 of Agenda 2063. It is also aligned with and complemented by the United Nations Security Council Resolutions 2250 (2015) and 2419 (2018).

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