– Ojaswi K.C. (Asia-Pacific SoTF Regional Convening Youth Scholar)
On 24 August 2024, 82 young people from 21 countries from the Asia-Pacific region adopted the Asia-Pacific Regional Convening Ahead of the Summit of the Future: Young People at the Forefront Call to Action. The Call to Action (CTA) reflects the actions, hopes and aspirations of youths from across the region.
It provides key recommendation in five thematic areas:
- Sustainable Development and Financing for Development
- Peace and Security
- Science, Technology, Innovation, and Digital Cooperation
- Climate Change
- Human Rights and Gender Equality
The recommendation provided in the CTA is an imperative tool to act on the region’s youth concerns as the United Nations (UN) prepares to host the Summit of the Future: Multilateral Solutions for a better tomorrow in its headquarters in New York from 20 to 23 September 2024.
The Summit will be attended by the various stakeholders including the delegation from the Asia-Pacific region to address pressing regional and global challenges, including the meaningful role of youth in peace and security through its adoption of the Pact of the Future, Global Digital Compact, and Declaration of Future Generations.
The Asia-Pacific region is home to over 1.1 billion young people aged 15 to 29, who represent more than 25% of the region’s population and 60% of the world’s youth, as stated in the issue brief titled “Stocktake and Review of Youth, Peace, and Security Programming (June 2023)”.
Despite the strong youth demographics, many of these young people live in active and protracted conflict areas, where they often find themselves in a vulnerable position and on the front lines of these crises.
To effectively tackle these issues, Governments must internalise that peace and security are deeply intertwined with the well-being of youths. This requires understanding how closely peace and security are linked with sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), gender equality, and human rights.
It is also pertinent to recognise that young people are not just victims of conflict but are powerful agents of change as affirmed in the UN Security Council’s Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace, and Security (2015).
However, one often overlooked consequence of conflict is its impact on SRHR. During conflicts, access to essential healthcare services including reproductive care often collapses, which holds true for the Asia-Pacific region too.
This leads to marginalised communities such as gender and sexual minorities, youth, persons with disabilities, and indigenous communities facing immediate dangers like violence and displacement but also losing access to crucial SRHR services.
In Afghanistan, for instance, recurring conflict has pushed fragile healthcare systems to their limit, leaving women and girls vulnerable to oppressive rules that strip them of autonomy over their bodies.
The banning of contraceptives has led to unwanted pregnancies, making it nearly impossible to control one’s sexual and reproductive health in such conditions. Moreover, the impact of the SRHR crisis does not end with the conflict itself.
Even in post-conflict settings, the lack of access to SRHR services continues to affect intergenerational lives. For example, in Nepal, several positive steps have been taken to address SRHR during the conflict’s times, such as the adoption of the Second National Action Plan for the Implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and 1820 Resolution on Women, Peace and Security (2022).
However, progress has been slow, leaving many conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) victims from the internal armed conflict (1996-2006) without the support they urgently need. Children born of CRSV often face marginalisation, stigmatisation and denial of basic human rights like citizenship.
Additionally, the narrow legal definitions of rape in the National Penal Code (2017) mean that many CRSV victims who are boys and men remain unrecognised and unsupported by the country’s legislative frameworks. These gaps undermine the efforts to build lasting peace and gender equality.
Moreover, the above example of Nepal’s situation highlights a crucial and often neglected aspect of peace and security which is gender equality. Various research has shown that women are disproportionately affected by conflict and are often excluded in peace processes and dialogue.
This was also evident in the case of Nepal, where women combatants, despite their significant presence during the internal armed conflict, were largely absent from peace dialogue in 2006.
Nevertheless, there is promising work done by grassroots women peacebuilders such as the Conflict Victims’ Women National Network (CVWN). The organisation was established by the women victims of conflict who are playing pivotal roles in advocating for transitional justice and the access to SRHR for the CRSV victims in the country’s conscience through its work.
Furthermore, the protection of human rights remains the core of peace and security. The violations of basic human rights such as gender equality and SRHR during conflict and post-conflict block the state from achieving sustainable peace. For this, the governments must adopt a human rights-based approach to peace and security.
This involves prioritising meaningful youth engagement, ensuring access to SRHR, and combating gender inequality in peace and security efforts by adopting legislation that guarantees youth participation in decision-making processes, providing stakeholder training to protect youth during conflicts, and recognizing them as key stakeholders in peace and security, as recommended by the CTA.
Thus, as we look toward the Summit of the Future, we must ensure meaningful youth participation to make peace and security sustainable and embrace strategies that recognise the interconnections between SRHR, gender equality, and human rights. By addressing these groups’ needs and rights, we can work towards a future where peace and security are not merely temporary ceasefires but the foundation of a peaceful world.
