NOVEMBER FEATURE
Commitment is in my view point the basis for a genuine culture of peace. Without commitment no-one moves no-one takes initiative to end a conflict or wave the white flag.
- Elsa Yazbek, OIYP Action Partner, Lebanon
Youth often feel (and frequently are) marginalized or excluded from peace-building and reconstruction activities. A strong sense of social distance is a central theme in descriptions of youth during and after conflicts. In fact a writer once described young people during times of conflict and post conflict as “a demographic majority that sees itself as an outcast minority” Another writer quite pointedly laments that the “most sinister effect of modern civil wars is the damage they wreak upon young people’s social worlds.” I have been frustrated that youth are used both as perpetrators and victims - as ‘political currency’- during times of conflict and that during and after the peace process they are marginalized and relegated into an apolitical sphere.
In discussions that I have facilitated here in Sri Lanka with young people on conflict resolution, I have found them usually ending with a deep sense of hopelessness in achieving peace. Young people in Sri Lanka have seen time and again many peace efforts that have succumbed to political ill-will. Hence at large there lies a broad skepticism as to whether peace is a viable option for conflict resolution. Though most young people in Sri Lanka are generally supportive of peace and crave for an end to the two and a half decade long war, when asked the question as to how we should contribute to building peace most of them are not sure.
Young people in Sri Lanka have been the focus of those who want to sustain the conflict in Sri Lanka. Across the divide they are the prime targets of campaign leashed out by war mongers. As a result they have been fed with different versions of the history tainted with racism. I have found in most of my discussions with peers that their seeking to establish their version of history as the ‘truth’ as the most difficult hurdle to engage them in any constructive dialogue.
Despite all the negativities mentioned above I still believe that peer to peer peace education is the best way that young people can contribute to conflict resolution. Enhancing their capacities and knowledge for them to engage in fruitful exchange of ideas, opinions and translating those into action is what is needed. We at the Sri Lankan Youth Parliament are trying our best to engage our members in this exercise.
In post conflict situations it is important that the active participation of young people is sought given that it is a significant determinant of their satisfaction with reintegration. Increased participation may also enhance access to basic services, psychosocial well being and social capital. Young people are in general key, to post war political and economic reforms, improving the effectiveness of rehabilitation efforts and in general the transition from crisis to development.
James Howell, OIYP Action Partner from Sierra Leone
Peace building in conflict and post-conflict Sierra Leone
In reading through the conflict resolution literature I am always amazed by the varying definitions and conceptions of some of the key terminologies in the field. Terms such as conflict, peace, peacebuilding, justice, conflict management, to name a few, all seems to mean different things to different people. In the case of peacebuilding one of the definitions that struck a resonance with me was the one that perceived of the phenomenon as “Creating tangible and intangible conditions for Peace”. After reading this and reflecting on my daily work as a peacebuilder in my community, I have been left wondering how one creates effective conditions for peace when both these ‘conditions’ and ‘peace’ itself means many things to many people. This definition is relevant however not because it encapsulates all the elements of peacebuilding but mainly because it contains the key ingredients necessary in achieving sustainable peace: the right conditions create the right peace.
I have been involved in peacebuilding in Sierra Leone at a time when the word was not in vogue in the country and at a time when there was no peace to keep. For the better part of the eleven years civil war in my country I worked as a volunteer peace activist with Peacelinks, monitoring the impact of the conflict on young people in general. I was drawn to the job more by coincidence than by design. Having witnessed the devastating impact of the war on my peers, friends and close family members, not to mention my numerous fortunate escapes from death at the hands of ruthless drug-induced rebels, some of whom were former school mates and colleagues, I decided to use my music and organisational skills to document the impact of the war on children and to help the latter, especially former child combatants, reintegrate into society.
My affiliation with Peacelinks, a youth-led community based organisation in Sierra Leone that uses performing and fine arts and provides vocational skills training to disadvantaged children, enabled me carry out my work and maintain my neutrality. This was particularly crucial because in the midst of the social upheavals wrought by war, many young people are often left with a stark choice of either taking sides in order to survive or starve to death. Neutrality enabled me work with some degree of freedom and to retain the trust and confidence of children from all of the factions.
Though neutrality is a requisite survival strategy, it is however a hard concept to maintain in practise. For how can one remain neutral in the face of such terrible atrocities against innocent civilians, most especially the children? The search for an answer drove me to work with other young people who were also reaching out to others with messages of peace and reconciliation at a time when the war was tearing the social fabric of the society apart.
The rationale for a youth approach to peacebuilding was that the country stood a better chance of establishing sustainable peace if it actively engages with and taps the bubbling energy of young people. It is against the backdrop that Peacelinks engages with youths across all sectors of the community in Sierra Leone.
In the Northern headquarter town of Makeni Peacelinks branch office toured several schools with messages of peace and reconciliation embedded in the universal languages of songs and dance. The skits that we performed were drawn from the everyday experiences of youths and conflict and hence resonated with the audience. It was not uncommon therefore for young people to ask us about which sides we supported in the conflict. Our presentations helped them see alternatives to war and that we all don’t have to take sides. My job as Outreach Coordinator was to identify potential schools, based on criteria drawn up by the Peacelinks Executive Committee, and to establish initial contacts with the school authorities for possible dates for a tour. In Freetown the Peacelinks Secretariat also organized various activities aimed at minimizing the appeal of violence to young people. The group organized symposia, radio discussions, peace art competitions, and sporting events.
All of these activities were undertaken in the midst of the civil war. The range of activities we undertook at any one time therefore depended very much on the constantly fluctuating security situation. When for example renegade soldiers ousted the democratically elected government in 1997, and brought the war to the urban areas, our activities were seriously impacted. As fighting between the various factions spread and eventually engulfed the entire country, including the capital Freetown, the membership of Peacelinks scattered in all directions for dear life, with the hope of regrouping at some appropriate date to continue our work. As we continued to monitor the situation from our hiding and check on our members whenever there was a lull in the fighting, the full impact and the real carnage of the war dawned on us.
For many of us it was both a country and personal tragedies. After nearly four days of hiding in the basement of a windowless basement, I ventured out into the open to search for food and water. I was promptly rounded up by the rebels who accused me of being a collaborator. I was taken to their basement and was queued up, together with tens of other civilians for amputation. Just about when I resigned to fate, rather miraculously, West African troops launched a fierce aerial attack on the camp thereby forcing our captors to flee. We scattered in all directions. Several days later I realised that my cousin, who had been with my all this while, did not escape alive. Peacebuilding in the midst of conflict indeed comes at a heavy price.
If surviving the war is difficult, surviving the peace is just as difficult. For young peace who have lost their innocence to violence, the post-conflict environment is just as challenging. With the country in ruins and the wider society at best suspicious and at worst hostile, it is not surprising that many drift towards petty crime and prostitution in order to eke out a living. The chief focus of Peacelinks in post conflict Sierra Leone is to train these young people and equip them with the requisite skills they require to pick up the pieces and hence lead independent lives. As future leaders, they are the hope of the country.
The terrible experiences have inspired us to dedicate our time, energy, passion and skills to conflict prevention and peacebuilding. Having experienced war first hand, we now value peace even more. Some key lessons that I have learnt over the years include the following:
- A true peacebuilder should be objective in analysing a conflict
- Should be a good listener and should listen to all sides
- Should be willing and ready to endure hardship and sacrifice
- Above all should be focused and dedicated to resolving the conflict.
Even though it is sometimes a thankless job, work in conflict prevention and peacebuilding has its positive side. The real joy for peacebuilders in conflict situations in particular lies in the knowledge that in our own little way our work has saved lives, inspired others, and helped sustained the peace and laid the foundations for post-conflict peacebuilding and development. It is this singular belief that kept up our spirits in the midst of trying circumstances. It is this same spirit that we are now drawing upon as our country attempts to rise once again from the ashes of war.
RESOURCES
Check out these resources online if you are interested in further exploring the issues in this months Voice.
Youth and Conflict
A Brief Review of Available Literature written by Marc Sommers, Youth Research Specialist, EQUIP 3 Youth Trust, May 2006
http://www.crin.org/docs/edu_youth_conflict.pdf
United Nations Cyberschoolbus Peace Education Site
http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/peace/frame3_3.htm
World Development Report 2007
This report is published annually by the World Bank and the theme of the report is ‘Development and the Next Generation’
www.worldbank.org/wdr2007
