YOUPEACEBUILDER · THE ROLE OF YOUTH IN PEACEBUILDING: THE CYPRUS CASE
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2018-11-01 → 2020-10-31
- EU contribution
- €195,455
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
THE ROLE OF YOUTH IN PEACEBUILDING: THE CYPRUS CASE
YOUPEACEBUILDER deals with the question of how to engage youth in peacebuilding processes with a particular focus on Cyprus. Although the potential of youth has recently become the subject of a growing scholarly research agenda, the political, social and economic agency of Cypriot youth in particular continue to be ignored. This generation has the capacity to build trust and cohesion in society through its activities, dialogue and engagement in daily life. And it therefore becomes critical that research investigates the perceptions of youth and their demands regarding their readiness for the peace process and willingness to coexist, especially in such a divided country as Cyprus. Accordingly, YOUPEACEBUILDER focuses on the neglected Cypriot youth by uncovering their perceptions and suggesting ways to incorporate youth voices in the peace process. There is an overwhelming inclination in the literature to highlight the negative roles of youth by expanding on the link between youth and violence. But the past two decades have seen shifts in the body of research towards the agency and potential of youth in post-conflict societies, altering this pessimistic discourse. Numerous examples illuminate how youth have participated in peacebuilding and have contributed positively to post-conflict processes. The research findings reveal that Cypriot youth also believe that they have a responsibility to find a peaceful settlement to the problem. Despite the hesitancy of community leaders to engage them in the process, Cypriot youth have launched individual or collective initiatives to contribute to peacebuilding attempts. This is especially crucial considering the lack of optimism youth have about prospects for a peaceful settlement to the enduring Cyprus problem. YOUPEACEBUILDER aims to foster debate among academics, policy experts, civil society organisations and international third-party actors working on this issue. And it does this by addressing the issue directly and offering practical recommendations – in accordance with the pillars of UNSC Resolution 2250(2015) on Youth, Peace and Security – on how the potential of youth can be utilised more effectively in future peacebuilding efforts in Cyprus. Creating an inclusive peace process in Cyprus, with the involvement of youth and a broader segment of society, would enhance the prospects for a solution to one of the most challenging issues in European society.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The lasting separation between Turkish and Greek Cypriots on the small island of Cyprus has long been one of the contentious issues of the Eastern Mediterranean. Much effort and energy has been spent trying to find a comprehensive resolution to the dispute. However, the rationale behind the strategy of conflict resolution, which has been mainly based on negotiations between subsequent leaders, remains problematic. The lack of (or limited) direct involvement of societies, particularly disengagement of young people, who have lived in an ethnically divided country since they were born, has prevented mobilization of Cypriot youth in their search for communication and interaction. However, current peacebuilding efforts on the island still focus on reaching an agreement between leaders instead of finding ways to engage the youth of both sides, who are expected to live together despite the fact that they have never experienced it before. As McEvoy-Levy suggests “a peace agreement’s endurance depends on whether the next generations accept or reject it, how they are socialized during the peace process, and their perceptions of what that peace process has achieved.” As the most recent addition to the international community’s repertoire of conflict resolution methods, peacebuilding simply refers to a comprehensive process that tries to remove the root causes of a conflict. According to Lederach, the actors at the national and international top levels are involved in negotiation and peacemaking, while the grassroots, bottom-up level are aiming to promote peace and reconciliation at local and society level. Thus, the linkage between the top and grassroots levels, in which middle-level process aims to facilitate, is essential for an effective and sustainable peace. This research proposal aims to discover, observe and reshape the correlation between youth and peacebuilding particularly in the Cyprus case by borrowing Lederach’s approach on peacebuilding.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- COVENTRY UNIVERSITY · CoventryCoordinatorUnited Kingdom
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union