A file photo taken on February 13, 2012 shows Somali Al-Shabaab fighters
gathering in Elasha Biyaha, in the Afgoei Corridor. AFP PHOTO
Kenya is preparing to host a summit to counter violent extremism
in June 2015. It is a timely and vital initiative by a country reeling
from tragic terror attacks.
Our world is home to 1.8
billion young people aged between 10 and 24, and Dr Babatunde Osotimehin
the executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
says: “Never before have there been so many young people. Never again is
there likely to be such potential for economic and social progress”.
Kenya has one of the most youthful populations in the world with about 60 percent of the population aged below 24 years.
On
September 21, 2013, a massacre of 67 innocent civilians took place at
the Westgate Mall in Nairobi. And on April 2, 2015, gunmen stormed
the Garissa University College, killing 149 people, and injuring 79 or
more. Both the attacks were claimed by the al-Qaeda-linked group
al-Shabaab.
In the case of the of the Westgate episode
one of the gunmen was a Norwegian citizen of Somali descent. In the
Garissa massacre one of the four gunmen was a local and described as a
“high-flying, grade-A student” with a promising law career ahead. Both
men were in their early 20s.
In India, the violent
Maoist movement is largely composed of youth. In Colombia, South Sudan
and Sri Lanka, decades of conflict had been sustained by child soldiers.
In
Pakistan and Afghanistan, easy recruits are found in mosques and
religious schools. In Somalia, al-Shabaab, which in Arabic means “youth”
is waging attacks on Kenya. Young people from all over the world are
joining the rank and file of the notorious ISIS.
Drawing
on interviews and surveys with youth in Afghanistan, Colombia and
Somalia, Mercy Corps published an insightful study entitled ‘Youth and
Consequences: Unemployment, Injustice and Violence.’ The study found
that, “the principal drivers of political violence are rooted not in
poverty, but in experiences of injustice: discrimination, corruption and
abuse by security forces... Young people take up weapons not because
they are poor, but because they are angry”.
On the
other hand, at a summit hosted by the White House to counter violent
extremism in February 2015, President Barack Obama remarked: “But when
people — especially young people — feel entirely trapped in impoverished
communities, where there is no order and no path for advancement, where
there are no educational opportunities... and no escape from injustice
and the humiliations of corruption — that feeds instability and
disorder, and makes those communities ripe for extremist recruitment.”
Two different, yet highly relevant narratives emerge about violent extremism.
So what needs to be done to counter the spectre of violent extremism?
Under
the government’s leadership, all development partners should create an
enabling environment in which young people can develop, advance and
achieve their full human potential.
In order to do
that, it will be useful to understand the relationship between youth and
violent extremism within a broader context of their relationship to
peace and security; build an evidence base for action on youth
engagement in violent extremism; focus on countering/preventing youth
engagement in violent extremism without ignoring/neglecting the role of
“non-youth”; and develop strategies after thorough analyses of the
political, religious, cultural, social and economic factors that drive
youth to violent extremism.
Let’s put youth at the centre of the narrative. Kenya can serve as a model that other nations can emulate.
Erik
Solheim is the Chair of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development-Development Assistance Committee in Paris, France and
Siddharth Chatterjee is the UNFPA Representative to Kenya. They have
seen firsthand young people at the frontlines of conflicts around the
world.
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