At the age of twenty-four, Hossam Shehab heads the Wasl Peace Organization, which he founded as a youth initiative, and it has grown under his care since the beginning of his youth in which various activities were dedicated to the youth and community needs in a city ravaged by war.
In a joyful tone, Hossam tells "Khuyut" about his initiative, which does not stop at what he has planned only, but also went beyond that. He said that he is working hard to achieve what he aspires to, pointing that he started from scratch, and established his own project to maintain his basic needs to continue the journey of struggle.
Hossam is one of the youth social activists and he has collective and individual endeavors in the peacemaking and entrepreneurship industry, and this is what he hopes the youth shall be heading today, away from the situation subject to chaos, and the state of diaspora resulted years of conflict.
Cores of Peace
In light of the current conflict in Yemen, young people have been used as fuel for war from all conflict parties, which requires effective intervention to direct the youth’s scope into useful and productive activities that keep them away from such risks facing them. One of the most useful initiatives is the Youth Consensus (Tawafuq) for Security and Peace that has been announced in November 2020 in Aden, with the membership of 30 male and female young people from various Yemeni governorates.
Mohammed Al-Wattiri, a member of the Youth Tawafuq, a researcher and coordinator of youth and peace projects in Yemen, asserted that Al-Tawafuq aims to strengthen the youth presence and drive this category towards the political process as one of the main actors in the current situation.
Al-Wattiri confirmed to "Khuyut" that the "Youth Consensus" vision is to becom an advisory body for international bodies and in a way that connects youth visions to global forums according to what the youth of Yemen sees, in addition to supporting and highlighting all youth efforts and initiatives working in the field of peacebuilding.
He added that there is a tendency to practice pressure on the parties to the conflict to reach to common framework on peace-building in Yemen. Al-Wattiri believes that the lack of trust between the conflicting parties is one of the prolonged war drivers; this requires working to narrow this gap in order to bring the different points of view closer, which will be reflected in the creation of understandings that will lead to dialogue and agreement on the available peace opportunities.
Young Population
According to specialized statistics and reports, the annual growth rate in Yemen decreased from 4.6% in the 1990s to 2.7% in 2010, but it is still high in the global scale. In 2010, the average lifespan was 17.8, which is higher than the average in the 1990s (14,3) In addition, more than half of Yemenis were born during the last twenty years, which makes Yemen a young country with a large youth percentage.
Journalist Hamdi Rassam believes that international and local organizations should give priority to youth energies and efforts shall be directed to the development of training and rehabilitating programs so that they are able to make actual change on the ground, and this will constitute a real nucleus for the desired peace in the country.
Rassam adds to "Khuyut", that there is no point in excluding young people other than prolonging the war, and presenting them as an offering to extremist forces and warring parties where they are used negatively; They are being reformed to suit each party's ideological and military orientation, otherwise, the war would not have lasted this long.
Rassam added that, the war and its consequences responsible for spawning the future ambitions of Yemeni youth. Despite some attempts to prove themselves and work to reach their set goals, the majority fell into the trap of searching for daily living, providing income for their families, and enduring all kinds of suffering, which he describes as a prejudicial death sentence; the bright youth period turned into a daily struggle to prove the right to be alive
Rejection of marginalization of the youth element
Young people remain the pillar of societies in view of the continuous dynamism and vitality, which makes their inclusion and assimilation an imperative necessity otherwise their marginalization and exclusion will turn into a bomb that can explode at any time.
In an article published on the Youth Consensus page on the social networking site Facebook, the Yemeni media coach, Abdulsalam Al-Shurihi said: “Maybe everyone knows that the level of educational attainment of young people is much higher than what it was in the past. However, the issue is not limited to that, young people have skills that far exceed their educational attainment as well, here we shall ask: what have we done to benefit from and empower these experiences? which has become either weak or non-existent today.
Al-Shurihi warned of the risk of marginalizing young people, stressing that investing in their abilities is not limited to their current situation, but may extend beyond that, especially with many young people being withdrawn or losing confidence in themselves, and staying away from any influence.
Young people remain the bet of the present to get out of the various predicaments that the country is experiencing at all levels, as Dr. Jassim Bou Sabaa, Head of the Department of Philosophy and Sociology at the Faculty of Arts at Hadhramaut University stated in his speech to "Khuyut", where he stresses that the importance of the role of the youth and the recognition of this segment is critical to be a pivotal element in the current situation.
Dr. Bou Sabaa points out that youth is the first factor in creating community coexistence that leads to peace, and this is what we need today. We have youth leaders, components and initiatives led by young people who are full of energy, efficiency, and the ability to act, which represent a positive indicator that shall be supported. It key that we shall empower youth community actors; to achieve tangible change, coexistence, harmony and peace.
Additionally, the bet on young people to reach peace in Yemen remains very vital but this will not be achieved without re-forming them intellectually and culturally, away from the conflicting culture and extremism that leads many of them to the crematoria of death at the expense of the present and future of their awaited homeland which is waiting their return to its bosom even after a while. Dr. Bou Sabaa concluded.
