Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at UN Security Council debate
Mr. President,
At the outset let me welcome our colleagues and friends from South Africa in their capacity as the President of the United Nations Security Council and wish to them every success in the month of October.
We support the choice of topic for this meeting. When speaking about ensuring peace and security in Africa, indeed we cannot leave behind issues related to involvement of African young people in this process. Today we heard very interesting and, at times, thrilling briefings by those who represent African youth.
Africa is called a “continent of youth” for a reason. As of now, the generation of Africans aged 15 to 24 accounts for over 30% of the entire Africa’s population. According to UN estimates, by the year 2055 the number of young Africans will double.
We note that African States pay increased attention to youth outreach. African Union’s fundamental plan of social and economic development “Agenda-2063” highlights the importance of this category of Africa’s population and the need to ensure its constructive participation in the continent’s governance, and achieving its peace and development.
We also welcome the efforts of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union as it works to increase the youth profile in peace and security process. The AU Commission has established Office of the African Union Special Envoy on Youth. Africa has launched a continental program entitled ‘Africa Youth for Peace and Development’ that should i.a. facilitate implementation of the ‘African Youth Charter’ adopted back in 2006.
Young people take a worthy place in producing efforts to implement the continental campaign on silencing the guns in Africa by 2020 – the initiative indicated in the topic of this session. The UN Security Council adopted resolution 2457 to support this initiative. The AU Roadmap on building African peace and security architecture for 2016-2020 also addresses the importance of youth involvement in AU work.
Mr.President,
At the same time, we have to say that there are many objective obstacles that impede the youth involvement in peace process on the continent. The gravest of them is the problem of radicalization of young people.
Having their world view still unformed, lacking life experience, and, quite often, lacking basic education, young Africans become an easy target for radical ideology.
Extremist groups make able use of it when acting in countries with unfavorable social and economic environment in order to engage young people in unlawful activity.
It is quite characteristic that when attempting to win over the sympathy of youth, terrorists increasingly often use information and communication technology. It dictates a need for us to enhance collective efforts in the area of international information security.
What is worth paying specific attention to is the phenomenon of using radically-minded young people in order to achieve domestic political goals. I mean situations when this category of population is basically engaged in toppling legitimate authorities under the banners of democracy and human rights.
We are convinced that the international community should be paying priority attention to these problems. It is vital to promote a culture of peace and tolerance among young people. It is the only way we can save them from being involved in acts of violence, terrorism, xenophobia, race- and gender-based discrimination, arms and drug trafficking. We should take measures for social integration of the young people who have become victims of armed conflicts by providing to them access to education and skill-building activities. Another important aspect is to promote mentorship initiatives, encourage peaceful youth organizations and foster cross-cultural and inter-religious dialogue among young people. The African Union and regional organizations are already doing much of this, however these measures need to be enhanced.
Mr.President,
Russia stands ready to share its expertise in terms of youth outreach and countering the spread of extremist ideology among young people, i.a. the expertise we have accumulated through our engagement with regional organizations, such as CSTO, SCO, OSCE. Our government also takes steps to support young people by yearly allocating scholarships and grants to African States that let their nationals receive education at Russian universities. We are open to search for extra capacity and progressive forms of cooperation at this track.
We suggest continuing targeted discussion of these issues at the upcoming Russia-Africa summit on 22-24 October in Sochi.
Thank you.
