Youth make up a majority of the population in most violence-affected contexts, yet they have been frequently overlooked in peacebuilding efforts. There are new international frameworks for their inclusion, most significantly, the establishment of the ‘Youth, Peace and Security’ agenda by the UN Security Council in 2015.
Southeast Asia and the Pacific have been radically overlooked in the first years of the Youth, Peace and Security agenda despite being one of the youngest regions in the world. Paying meaningful attention to youth leadership in peacebuilding offers opportunities for building more durable, inclusive peace in our region and beyond.
Symposium
On the 28th and 29th of April, the Griffith Asia Institute hosted a symposium on Youth-ed Futures of Peace and Security that focused on exactly this often-overlooked area of policy and practice.
As the capstone event for GAI member, Dr Helen Berents’ Australian Research Council DECRA Fellowship, the symposium brought together established and emerging researchers in critical youth and peacebuilding scholarship in the region and beyond to facilitate conversations and collaborations.
Two international guests, Professor Siobhan McEvoy-Levy, the Director of the Desmond Tutu Peace Lab (Butler University, USA) and Dr Primitivo III Cabanes Ragandang (Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology, Philippines), joined interstate, Brisbane, and Griffith-based researchers for the two days to consider the current global context as opportunity and constraint on the possibilities of youth-ed futures of peace and security.
Dr Berents’ DECRA Fellowship examined youth peace leadership and global governance in the context of the international Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) agenda. As part of the Symposium, Dr Helen Berents gave a hybrid seminar on her DECRA findings before discussing them in conversation with Prof McEvoy-Levy, Dr Primitivo Ragandang and Dr Caitlin Mollica, which is available to view here. Titled Youth Peace Expertise, Dr Berents considered the implications of what it means to take youth expertise seriously in global governance.
In other sessions, participants in the Symposium presented exciting new work on youth inclusive peacebuilding from around the globe. Particular attention to Southeast Asia featured, including work by Griffith Asia Institute PhD members, Lukas Nagel’s work on the challenges facing young Myanmar activists, and Erika Yague’s research on ASEAN’s engagement with youth leaders.
The Youth Peace and Security agenda marks its first decade in December 2025, and many questions remain for what its future looks like, and how not just youth-inclusive, but youth-led peacebuilding will evolve into the future. These questions are not just academic but have practical implications for the young people who risk their lives, wellbeing, and safety every day to build safer communities and a more peaceful world. This symposium provided a timely and valuable opportunity to take stock and look forward to how youth-led peacebuilding offer opportunities to enhance both regional and global peace and security.
Dr Helen Berents is a member of the Griffith Asia Institute.
