The conflict in Syria has taken a devastating toll on Syria’s younger generation in many ways, not the least of which is the impact on their education and on their schools and teachers. The war has essentially decimated a key educational milestone the country achieved before the violence broke out.

Type: Analysis

Education & Training;  Justice, Security & Rule of Law;  Youth

A day after the United States’ deadliest-ever mass shooting, the Dalai Lama led a Washington audience in a silent prayer for peace. But he said prayers will be ineffective without “serious action” to erode religious and other communal divisions. Building peace in and among nations requires improved education, leadership by youth and women, and “personal contact” among people of disparate groups, the Buddhist spiritual leader said. “We have to live on this small planet… with a sense of brother...

Type: Analysis

Religion;  Youth

The United Nations Security Council recently addressed a force quietly shaping the world: a generation of young people that, numbering 1.8 billion between the ages of 10 to 24, is the largest in history, and has enormous potential to build peace amid the violence that so often rocks their world. The council’s resolution on youth, peace and security was the first to deal with the role of young people on these issues. The hard work now is to turn the resolution’s words into reality, H.E. Ahmad ...

Type: Analysis

Violent Extremism;  Youth;  Global Policy

The U.S. Institute of Peace’s (USIP) Peace Teachers Program is rooted in the conviction that educators can be pivotal in bringing themes of global conflict and peace into their classrooms, schools, and communities.

Type: Fact Sheet

Education & Training;  Youth

Boko Haram’s recent kidnapping of over two hundred schoolgirls in Nigeria has once again brought the group into the international spotlight, making more urgent the questions about how to curtail its activities and the activities of other armed groups that threaten the security of Nigeria and the region. Drawing on the results of a 2013 study in six northern Nigerian states, this report addresses the question of how youth are radicalized and recruited into armed groups and what the Nigerian go...

Type: Special Report

Conflict Analysis & Prevention;  Religion;  Youth

This week’s latest mass kidnapping of Nigerian schoolchildren underscores that the crumbling of human security in Africa’s most populous nation is worsening a deeper impairment, hollowing out Nigeria’s education system to create a “lost generation” of youth across much of the country. Alarmingly, one in five of the world’s out-of-school children is Nigerian. As Nigerian and international policymakers focus on the immediate crises—of kidnappings, Boko Haram’s extremist violence, and conflict between farming and herding communities—they must urgently rescue and buttress the country’s damaged education system. Reducing violence and achieving development in Africa will depend on an effective strategy for doing so.

Type: Analysis

Human Rights;  Youth

When U.N. Sustainable Development Goal 16 (SDG 16) was adopted in 2015, it was envisioned as a framework for countries experiencing unrest to build peace and promote justice through strong institutions. Efforts have been made at different levels to make this goal a reality, but the outlook is not encouraging. The latest report from the U.N. found over 80 million people had fled war, persecution and conflict in 2020, the highest ever recorded. And every day, 100 people — including women and children — are killed in armed conflicts. With these grim figures and the end-of-decade deadline for SDG16 rapidly approaching, there should be a concerted effort to engage with youth leadership to help get SDG 16 back on track. 

Type: Analysis

Youth;  Conflict Analysis & Prevention