S/PV.8748 Security Council

In accordance with rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure, I invite the representatives of Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Botswana, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Ecuador, Fiji, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Namibia, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Norway, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, the Republic of Korea, the Republic of Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates 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/2020/680, which contains the text of a draft resolution submitted by Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Botswana, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Namibia, New Zealand, the Niger, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Norway, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, the Republic of Korea, the Republic of Moldova, Romania, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America, Uruguay and Viet Nam. The Council is ready to proceed to the vote on the draft resolution before it. 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 2535 (2020). I shall now give the floor to those members of the Council who wish to make statements after the voting.

On behalf of the co-penholders, France and the Dominican Republic, we are pleased to see the strong support of the Council for the unanimous adoption of resolution 2535 (2020), on youth, peace and security, which reflects the Council’s recognition of and support for the pivotal role that young people play in the maintenance of peace and security. We are particularly grateful to all members of the Council for their support and their spirit of compromise. We also thank them for their active and constructive participation in the negotiation process. The achievements made would not have been possible without the work undertaken by Jordan, Peru, Sweden and South Africa, with their respective initiatives undertaken prior to the adoption of the resolution. This year we are celebrating the fifth anniversary of resolution 2250 (2015) and the seventy- fifth anniversary of the United Nations. In that vein, we would underscore a particular point of the Declaration for the Commemoration of the Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of the United Nations: “We will listen to and work with youth. Youth is the missing piece for peace and development. As we benefited from the foresight of the founders of the United Nations, young people today will have to live with the consequences of our action and inaction.” That is the reason for which we wish to present the resolution that we have just adopted. From the very beginning of our work, we were focused on the goal of further accelerating and operationalizing the youth, peace and security agenda. With this resolution, we have achieved critical gains. We have strengthened the protection framework for the human rights of young people who are working to maintain peace and security, as well as the civic and political space. We call for the development of a guide dedicated to the protection of young people, including those who become involved with the Security Council. It encourages capacity-building, including the appointment of focal points for youth, peace and security both within the United Nations system and in countries and regional organizations. The youth, peace and security agenda cannot be disassociated from the women and peace and security agenda. Gender equality is a principle of the Charter of the United Nations that we must uphold if we are to achieve gender equality. The impact of youth is directly proportional to the full and effective participation of young women. Moreover, we acknowledge the importance of young people becoming involved in planning and the humanitarian response, as well as of the vital role that young people play in responding to climate-related events and natural disasters, which are increasingly frequent and extreme in nature, and to the coronavirus disease pandemic and its direct impact on young people. The resolution also provides for a guide to be given to peace missions that will be used to establish a strategy for youth, peace and security. It also provides for Member States to create funding sources that are accessible to young people’s organizations and organizations led by young people. The resolution also urges that the youth, peace and security agenda be integrated and mainstreamed into all planning and strategic documents and into United Nations analyses, frameworks, initiatives and guiding instruments, while strengthening the link between the youth, peace and security and the work of the Peacebuilding Commission. Finally, the resolution requests a biennial report on the issue from the Secretary-General, thereby fully incorporating the youth, peace and security agenda into the Security Council’s work. Young people are not waiting for us. They are also already taking concrete steps to face today’s challenges. The idea is to maintain a link between the Security Council and young people that is mutually beneficial. In order to be able to talk about the sustainable maintenance of peace and security, it is vital to recognize and support the role of young people in conflict-resolution and peacebuilding processes. To conclude, we wish to thank the countries that expressed support for the resolution through their written statements during the open video-teleconference on youth, peace and security held in April (see S/2020/465), as well as through their co-sponsorship. The co-penholders deem it vital that all Member States take ownership of the resolution. We wish also to warmly thank the bodies that have been working on the implementation of this agenda: the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, the United Nations Population Fund, the Peacebuilding Support Office and the United Nations Development Programme. Moreover, we acknowledge the important role played by civil society and by young people’s organizations and organizations led by young people, which have continually supported this initiative. We also thank Germany for having made it possible for to adopt this resolution today under its presidency.

I wish at the outset to apologize to my friend Nicolas; he will understand that in four months of absence I have forgotten my French. In addition, as we were entering the Chamber, Jerry asked me to speak in English, so I have no choice but to continue my journey into the English language. (spoke in English) I am delivering this statement on behalf of Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia, the United Kingdom, Viet Nam and the Niger. We congratulate the co-penholders, the Dominican Republic and France, on today’s adoption of resolution 2535 (2020) on youth, peace and security. Five years after the Security Council recognized, for the first time, the specific situation of youth in armed conflict, today one in four young people is still affected by violence and conflict. Young people lack educational and economic opportunities, and their human rights are violated and curtailed, even more so in this time of the global coronavirus disease pandemic. It is crucial that the Council not only recognize the specific situation of young people but also leverage their role in and potential for preventing conflicts, for building peaceful and inclusive societies and for effectively addressing humanitarian needs by strengthening the role of young peacebuilders, especially women; by engaging youth in humanitarian response; by inviting youth organizations to brief the Council; and by taking into account the specific situation of youth in its deliberations and actions. We welcome the fact that the resolution sets the basis for a continued engagement of the Security Council with the issue of youth, peace and security. Only last week, Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Coordinator of the Association for Indigenous Women and Peoples of Chad, briefed the Security Council on the effects of climate change on the lives of people in the Sahel (see S/2020/706). She described how climate change is a matter of urgency that has become a nightmare for millions. Fifty-five per cent of the population of the Sahel can be defined as youth. Ms. Ibrahim urged the Security Council to envision the region 10 years down the road if their opportunities are bleak. The consequences of climate change entail serious security risks that are tangible all over the world. Notably, the adverse effects of climate change on the availability of resources and the preservation of livelihoods can exacerbate conflicts. Young people will have to deal with those issues for most of their lives. That is why it is young people who are most active in fighting climate change, taking their grievances to the street and transforming them into concrete action, including in situations of conflict. We regret the fact that the Security Council did not find consensus on recognizing more explicitly the reality that young people in conflict are affected by climate change. They will feel the consequences of climate change most acutely. In conflict situations and elsewhere, we need them to be part of the solution.

I am certain that the Ambassador of France stands ready to give the representative of the Niger a French-refresher lesson.

The Russian Federation voted in favour of resolution 2535 (2020), submitted by the Dominican Republic and France, on youth, peace and security. The negotiations on the resolution were far from easy and showed that there were conceptual differences among delegations on the role and objectives of the Security Council when it comes to youth, taking into account the specific mandate of the Security Council itself. Despite that, the co-penholders tried to find consensus solutions and managed to strike a balance among the wide range of views of the members of the Security Council, which in turn made it possible for us to have a unanimous vote on the resolution. We expect that future discussions of youth issues in the Security Council will be comprehensive in nature. As we move forward the issue of youth participation in the entire range of peace processes, including peace settlements and peacebuilding, it is important to bear in mind that what is needed is to eliminate the obstacles thereto, including by introducing preventive measures with respect to the spread of extremist ideologies and terrorism among young people.