INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON YOUTH PEACE AND SECURITY
On the 6th of September 2019, an international youth conference titled “Youth, Peace and Security: The Empowerment and inclusion of young people in promoting sustainable peace and security” was held in the Nile University of Nigeria, this is a program where Ufuk Dialogue was the principal partner of the IYCS. Other collaborators for the Conference were International Young Leaders Organisation, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Pan African Youth Network for a Culture of Peace (PAYNCOP) and the Federal Ministry for Youths and Sports Development.
There were many representations from many national and international organizations like the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), ECOWAS Youth, etc. the keynote address was delivered by the representative of the Nigeria Defence Academy on how to empower the youth in peacebuilding after which a two-session panel discussion was held, the first session panelists were from the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, UNESCO and UNODC and they talked about “Understanding the needs and Challenges of Young People Today”, the highlighted the policies and resolutions in place to guide young people on the challenges they face. The second session was conducted by mainly young people, Faisal Umar Lawan, Amir of FCT Muslim Student Society of Nigeria (MSSN), Barr Chrisvic O Ebhodaghe, Secretary Planning Committee and an IYCS representative from Lebanon. They talked on the topic “Multi-Stake Holder Action on Youth Peace and Security- role of religion, academia, government, and civil society to foster Youth participation”. the conference witnessed the attendance of roughly 300 people.