Fast Facts: Youth Political Participation (YPP) in Asia and the Pacific

For the first time in history, in December 2015, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted the first resolution (UNSCR 2250) on Youth, Peace and Security (YPS), recognizing the positive contributions of young women and men to peace. While the YPS agenda globally represents a significant and well-established thematic agenda, the region lacks progress towards implementing the agenda, even eight years after resolution 2250. No other country in the region, other than the Philippines, is even close to a national strategy, framework or plan to implement the YPS agenda.

Further, acknowledging the socio-political agency of youth, it is crucial to ensure young people and youth-led organizations are a meaningful part of national and regional implementation efforts like coalition-building, policy formulation and monitoring implementation. However, while many young people are contributing to building peace in their communities, significant work remains to increase the meaningful and active engagement of young people and youth organizations in peacebuilding processes and decision-making to strengthen the implementation of the YPS agenda.