Tomorrow (1 November) the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) will convene its 1243^rd session focusing on Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) in Africa as part of its annual thematic session on YPS, as an open session.

Following opening remarks from Jean Leon Ngandu Ilunga the Permanent Representative of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to the AU and chairperson of the PSC for the month of November, AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS), Bankole Adeoye is expected to make a statement. The AU Commission Youth Envoy, Chido Mpemba, and the five African Union Youth Ambassadors for Peace (AYAPs) are expected to brief the PSC. The agenda of the session also anticipates statements from representatives from the United Nations Office to the AU (UNOAU) and the European Union Delegation to the AU.

This session falls on Africa Youth Day. The African Youth Charter adopted in 2006 proclaimed the 1^st of  November as Africa Youth Day. The session is being held parallel to the 2024 Pan African Youth Forum, under the theme ‘1 Million Next Level is Knocking: Educate an African Fit for the 21^st Century,’ taking place from 1 to 4 November 2024, in Oran, Algeria.

It is to be recalled that, the PSC during its 933^rd meeting adopted the Continental Framework on Youth, Peace and Security and underscored ‘the necessity of implementation across the five overarching priorities areas – participation, prevention, protection, partnership and coordination.’ Following the finalisation and adoption of the 10-Year Implementation Plan for the CFYPS 2020-2029, the framework is currently in its 6^th year of implementation. The CFYPS advocates for the active participation of young people in all spectrums of peace and security areas at the national, regional and international levels. The framework envisions the mainstreaming of crosscutting issues, including gender, capacity development, communication, inclusivity and knowledge management and up-scaling of the contributions of youth to peace and security in Africa.

The last time PSC held a substantive session on the YPS agenda was on 3 November 2023 at its 1183^rd meeting. The PSC during that meeting, among others, emphasised the need for the AU Commission to conduct a comprehensive assessment of implementing the continental framework for youth peace and security, identifying challenges and providing recommendations for the way forward. Tomorrow’s session may present an opportunity for the Council to follow up on the progress made in undertaking the assessment of the framework.

Tomorrow’s meeting is expected to provide a recap of the developments on the agenda of the youth, peace and security, since its last convening. Following the commencement of the mandate of the 3^rd Cohort of the AYAPs after the endorsement of the new AYAPs by the AU summit in February 2024, the AU Commission held an induction for the AYAPs in May 2024. Not long after that, the Youth Ambassadors for Peace of each region embarked on holding regional consultations on youth peace and security and the New Agenda for Peace. Following the regional consultations, a continental consultation was held in Lusaka, Zambia. A major outcome of these consultations was the elaboration of a report articulating issues affecting youth in the various regions of the continent and their vision of how best to pursue the New Agenda for Peace through and in advancing the YPS agenda. The most recent interaction of the PSC with the AYAPs was on the sidelines of the annual consultative meeting with the UNSC, during which the AYAPS shared the report of the five regional consultations and the continental consultation they undertook on the New Agenda for Peace and Youth in Africa.

It is expected that AYAPs members will share their reflections on activities conducted in their regions so far. This will include efforts to promote the adoption of national action plans, insights from their involvement in the YPS agenda, and areas for enhancing the effective implementation of the YPS agenda, particularly regarding AYAP’s role. Additionally, they’ll highlight significant collective actions, such as their collaboration with Burundi in adopting the Bujumbura Declaration and their engagement in the lead-up to COP29 to be held from 11 November in Azerbaijan.

In addition, from the Communique adopted during the 1183^rd session, one of the actions underscored as critical components for advancing the YPS agenda on the continent was ‘the need for the AU Commission to institutionalise the inclusion of the youth, particularly the AYAPs and WiseYouth Network, in preventive diplomacy missions and AU Election Observer Missions.’ In this regard, the 3^rd Cohort of the AYAPs has undertaken at least 5 election observation missions in their regions, particularly in Tunisia, Mauritius, Rwanda, Mozambique and the late one in Botswana. The session is also expected to have discussions on the completion of the Guidelines for the Development and Implementation of NAPS for the AU Continental Framework on YPS, as mentioned in the 933^rd communique. The PSC ‘requested the Commission to develop a Guideline that would assist Member States to accelerate their efforts to develop the National Action Plans (NAPS).’ This call was further reiterated by the Council also still at its 1183^rd Meeting on the Open Session of YPS in November 2023, requesting for this process to be accelerated and the guideline finalised. In response, the Youth for Peace (Y4P) Africa Programme convened an expert review and validation meeting on the draft guidelines for the development and implementation of NAPS for the CFYPS. However, the report of the exercise is not yet public, although it is expected that the AU PSC Committee of Experts will convene for its consideration, prior to its submission to the permanent representatives, for adoption. Over the past year, there has been a notable surge in interest and progress among member states in supporting and initiating the development of the NAPs for YPS. Benin, Ethiopia, and Liberia have recently embarked on the process of developing their NAPs. Meanwhile, countries like Zimbabwe and The Gambia are set to launch their completed NAPs, underscoring a growing commitment across the continent to the YPS agenda.

Another development expected to receive attention is the operationalisation of the WiseYouth, established by the decision Assembly/AU/Dec.815(XXXV) of the 35^th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government in February 2022. This subsidiary mechanism of the Panel of the Wise aims to foster focused and strategic youth engagement in conflict prevention and preventive diplomacy. From May to June 2024, an open call for applications was made for membership to the WiseYouth Network. By August 2024, in collaboration with RECs/RMs and the Network of Think Tanks for Peace (NeTT4Peace), twenty competent youth leaders (four per region, ensuring gender parity) were selected to form the 1^st Cohort of the Network for a three-year non-renewable mandate. This was followed by Orientation and Training on Mediation and Preventive Diplomacy at the AU Commission held at the AU Commission recently. The network’s key engagements focus on empowering youth for active roles in conflict prevention, mediation and peace processes by enhancing their capacities and facilitating intergenerational exchanges with seasoned mediation practitioners, including the Panel of the Wise and its related networks (PanWise and FemWise-Africa Networks). It aims to build strategic partnerships to bolster youth-led peace efforts at regional and national levels, while also creating and utilising opportunities for network members to lead and support mediation, dialogue and peace initiatives across the continent.

The expected outcome is a communique. The PSC is likely to commend the significant efforts by the AU, Member States and the RECs/RMs in putting in place institutional avenues for ensuring meaningful youth participation and inclusion in peace and security processes. It may commend the speed with which steps were taken to get 3^rd cohort of AYAPs initiate and engage in activities for advancing the YPS agenda. It may also welcome the operationalisation of the WiseYouth. The Council may encourage Member States and RECs/RMs to intensify their efforts to promote youth as partners in enhancing peace, security and stability across the continent, including through the development and implementation of NAPs on the YPS agenda. In this regard, the PSC may also welcome the report of the AYAPs from the consultations they held and encourage the AU Commission, RECs/RMs, Member States and other stakeholders, to support the outcome and recommendations of the ‘African Youth Perspectives on the New Agenda for Peace’ to ensure that the challenges faced by African youth and their contributions to peace and security remain part of the global dialogue. The PSC is also expected to encourage the acceleration of the adoption of the ‘Guideline for the Development of NAPs on YPS,’ and furthermore, to work together with its stakeholders to strengthen the popularisation of the Guideline at all levels and promote its utilisation by Member States and other stakeholders, toward the development and implementation of comprehensive youth-centred NAPs. Council may also applaud Member States which have already signed, ratified and domesticated the African Youth Charter; and those who have developed or begun development of their respective NAPs on YPS, and in this regard encourage those Member States, which are yet to do so, to do the same. The Council may also remind member states of the need to ensure the meaningful and inclusive representation of young people at different levels of government and decision-making processes as well as resourcing youth-led and youth-focused peace and security initiatives. The Council is also likely to highlight the imperative for the AU, RECs/RMs, Member States and multi-lateral institutions to provide more practical opportunities and training to youth to engage in these fields at national, regional and continental levels. This includes through advocating for their deployment and inclusion in formal African peace processes taking place at all levels in order to strengthen youth capacity and experience in mediation, dialogue and preventive diplomacy. The PSC may underscore the need for the AU to press further in its efforts to reach more youth, through continuous sensitisation of its work and programmes, in order to bridge the gap between the youth and the AU. Finally, the PSC may highlight the need for the AU PSC Open Session on YPS to be open for facilitating representation of the diversity of African youth, cognizant of the fact that Africa youth have diverse social, cultural, historical, political, educational and economic backgrounds.