African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. [File, Standard]
The African Union has launched a Pan-African Youth Framework on Youth, Peace and Climate Justice, calling for greater involvement of young people in decision-making on Africa’s peace, security and climate challenges.
The framework was launched during a high-level International Youth Day convening hosted by the Permanent Observer Mission of the African Union to the United Nations in New York and organised through the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN) Diaspora.
The meeting was chaired by Ambassador Mohamed Edrees, Permanent Observer of the African Union to the United Nations.
The launch also highlighted Kenya’s growing role in continental youth policy, with New York-based Kenyan international human rights lawyer Lanji Ouko-Awori serving as a co-author of the framework alongside Alicia Clark, Director of Global Partnerships at the Center for Global Africa, USA, and Co-Chair of the AWLN Diaspora Consortium.
Ouko-Awori is a Founding Steering Committee Member and Youth, Peace and Security Lead of the AWLN Diaspora Consortium.
The framework was developed following consultations and ongoing engagement with youth-led organisations in more than 15 African countries. Its authors said the approach was intended to ensure that the framework reflects different security, climate and social realities across the continent.
“When we set out to build this Framework, we made a deliberate choice: no chapter would be written from a desk alone,” Ouko-Awori said during the launch.