S/PV.8277 Security Council

In accordance with rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure, I invite the representatives of Albania, Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Canada, the Central African Republic, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, the Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Latvia, Lebanon, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Namibia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Portugal, Qatar, the Republic of Korea, the Republic of Moldova, Romania, San Marino, Senegal, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Tunisia, Ukraine and Uruguay to participate in this meeting. The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. Members of the Council have before them document S/2018/532, which contains the text of a draft resolution submitted by Albania, Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Canada, the Central African Republic, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, the Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Namibia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, the Republic of Korea, the Republic of Moldova, Romania, San Marino, Senegal, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Tunisia, Ukraine, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America and Uruguay. The Council is ready to proceed to the vote on the draft resolution before it. I shall first give the floor to those members of the Council who wish to make statements before the voting.

The year 2018 marks the 50-year anniversary of a historic and tumultuous year in the history of many of our countries. The year 1968 heralded the arrival of a new generation, whose members marked their arrival loudly with protests and demonstrations, including the occupation of universities, aimed at challenging elites and changing the status quo. Many of the young leaders of those movements would go on to be leaders in their countries, bringing the “spirit of ‘68” to the organizations they once railed against. Since then new generations have been constantly challenging the status quo — just one reminder of how the power of youth can, and will, herald change. During the open debate on youth, peace and security in April (see S/PV.8241), my delegation underlined the need to harness the power and leadership of youth as effective peacebuilders in all aspects of sustaining peace. I am therefore delighted to introduce, along with Peru, today’s draft resolution on youth, peace and security (S/2018/532). The draft resolution builds on the ground-breaking resolution 2250 (2015)), so ably shepherded through the Security Council by Jordan in 2015. I would also like to acknowledge again today Jordan’s continued leadership and championing of the youth, peace and security agenda at the United Nations. The draft resolution before the Council today builds on and complements resolution 2250 (2015). It does so in several ways. First, it underlines the contribution that young people can make to peace and security if they are actively engaged and their knowledge, strengths and enthusiasm are unlocked and taken seriously. Secondly, it recognizes the diversity of youth and the need to counter any stigmatization of youth as having different aspirations, opportunities and challenges. Every voice must be heard. The draft resolution also highlights the need to recognize the specific challenges and discrimination young women face. Thirdly, it highlights that youth are a crucial part of implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and in advancing peaceful, just and inclusive societies. Fourthly, the draft resolution calls on both Member States and all United Nations entities to enhance the level and quality of dialogue with youth. That means inviting, including and listening to youth and youth-led civil society in our work. I would like to thank all delegations for their positive contributions to the negotiations on the draft resolution. I want to pay a special word of thanks to the initiator and co-penholder, Peru, as well as to express my gratitude at the fact that so many countries decided to become co-sponsors of the draft resolution. Today’s draft resolution marks an advance in our collective determination to ensure that youth can play their rightful and necessary role in the work of the Security Council and in building peace across the world. We have heard their voices here in the Chamber, most recently in April. We should not only listen to them and heed them, but also learn from them. Let me conclude with a quoteation from United States Senator Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy, who died 50 years ago today. “This world demands the qualities of youth: not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the life of ease.” We must never seek to quell those qualities of youth, either in the next generation of leaders or in ourselves.

I shall put the draft resolution to the vote now.

The draft resolution received 15 votes in favour. The draft resolution has been adopted unanimously as resolution 2419 (2018). I shall now give the floor to those members of the Council who wish to make statements following the voting.

We welcome the unanimous adoption of resolution 2419 (2018), on youth, peace and security, which highlights the role youth are called upon to play in preventing and resolving conflicts. We would like to express our particular gratitude to the delegation of Sweden for joining us as co-penholder, as well as to all of the members of the Security Council for their support, spirit of compromise and active and constructive participation during the consultations and negotiations in the course of the past seven weeks. We would also like to especially acknowledge Jordan’s commitment to this issue and its initiative of bringing it to the Security Council through resolution 2250 (2015), adopted by the Council in December 2015. We would emphasize that young people are crucial to forging an inclusive vision of a shared future, a sine qua non for sustainable peace. The international community must maximize and harness the potential, commitment and resilience of young people in order to prevent and address conflicts. Peru believes that the resolution that we have just adopted represents a major contribution to the work of the Security Council, in keeping with its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. We would emphasize the importance of ensuring follow-up on this issue in the context of the agenda of the Security Council. We therefore stress that the resolution we have just adopted calls on the Secretary-General to submit in 2020 a report on its implementation and that of its predecessor, resolution 2250 (2015). We wish also to underscore the need to combat the stereotyping of young people, in particular insofar as it perpetuates forms of discrimination and violence targeting women. Women’s empowerment and the promotion of gender equality are also key components of the positive role that young people can play in support of peace and security. Finally, we would like to thank the countries that have expressed their support for this issue through their co-sponsorship of the draft that we submitted together with Sweden and to highlight that this reflects the broad support and commitment of the international community with respect to the youth, peace and security agenda.

Let me first thank Peru and Sweden for their initiative to advance the youth, peace and security agenda by proposing a draft resolution in follow-up to landmark resolution 2250 (2015). We commend both countries for the careful way in which they organized the process and also commend Jordan as the originator of resolution 2250 (2015). I should like to make four points. First, we co-sponsored the text of resolution 2419 (2018) because we welcome its substance and certainly also its unanimous adoption by the Council. We hope that the request contained therein for a follow-up report will ensure that this issue receives the attention that it deserves from the Council and the wider United Nations system. We welcome the fact that so many other member States also sponsored the text. Secondly, on the need for a comprehensive approach, we appreciate the fact that the resolution recognizes the importance of a comprehensive approach to conflict resolution, peacekeeping and sustaining peace. We welcome the fact that the resolution reaffirms the important role that young people can play in these efforts. We welcome in particular the Council’s intention to invite civil society, including youth-led organizations, as briefers here in the Council. We also welcome the encouragement to the Secretary-General to include in his reports the progress made towards the participation of young people in peace processes. Thirdly, the importance of the progress study is clear. The study was exceptional; its methodology provided access and a voice to more than 4,000 young men and women who would not ordinarily have had the chance to participate face to face in this sort of policy-shaping process. It was this unique participatory approach that led the study to convincingly demonstrate how young people often feel unrepresented and excluded by the very institutions that are supposed to serve them. We recognize the positive reception of the progress study by an overwhelming majority of the membership of the United Nations, including most members of the Council, in the open debate held on 23 April (see S/PV.8241). My fourth point concerns the importance of listening to today’s youth. In negotiating this resolution, we tried to do our utmost to have young voices heard, including through active inputs from our own youth delegates, whom we commend for their contribution in this context. We express our hope that the Council will continue to listen to their voices and increase youth participation in issues of peace and security. The young people of the world have a legitimate desire to participate in the process of making decisions about their own future.

The United States wishes to commend Peru and Sweden for their efforts to make sure that the Security Council recognizes the role of youth in issues of peace and security. Resolution 2419 (2018), which we have just adopted, has a number of important elements. In particular, the United States appreciates that the Council will now recognize the role of education and sports in promoting tolerance and respect for others. Promoting peace and avoiding conflict starts with developing these values in our youth, who will be the next generation’s peacemakers. Today’s resolution goes a long way towards recognizing the steps that we need to take. The United States regrets, however, that the resolution did not contain language on preventing violent extremism. This concept is not new, and it should not be controversial. The goal of the agenda on preventing violent extremism is to address the factors that lead some to turn toward violence, so that we stop the cycle of recruitment into terrorist organizations. The resolution was a missed opportunity to promote the fact that youth should be involved when Member States develop action plans to address the prevention of violent extremism. United Nations agencies such as the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism are deeply involved in these efforts, and there is no reason why the Council should not be able to further recognize and support these critical efforts. Finally, the Council should not be rolling back language on technology and the Internet. The resolution should have used the most recent language on the issue, as reflected in resolution 2396 (2017). Resolution 2396 (2017) should be our baseline going forward. We wish once again to thank Peru and Sweden for their efforts, and we look forward to the Secretary- General’s report on youth in 2020.