On 7 June, the AU Youth Envoy, Chido Cleopatra Mpemba, participated in an Ambassadorial-level meeting of the UN Peacebuilding Commission on the Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) agenda in New York. The meeting was opened by the Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC), Ivan Šimonović; and received briefings from UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, Jayathma Wickramanayake; the AU Youth Envoy; Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the International Political Affairs Sector of the League of Arab States, Khaled Mohamed Almanzlawi; and Ahmad Afryan from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Youth Organization. The UN Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support, Elizabeth Spehar, also delivered remarks.

The meeting provided a platform to facilitate exchanges on the importance of regional efforts in advancing the institutionalization of the YPS agenda, and supporting national and local efforts to align it with their policies on peacebuilding and sustaining peace. It further explored opportunities for greater collaboration among young peacebuilders and key peacebuilding stakeholders working on YPS at regional, national, and local levels, including in the context of regional and subregional organizations, Member States and civil society organizations (CSOs). Watch via UN Web TV here.