“IF WAR IS A CHOICE, PEACE CAN BE TOO”
HOW YOUNG PEACE LEADERS CAN CONTRIBUTE TO THE UN AGENDA2030
ITALY, COSTA RICA, MONACO, UNAOC AND RONDINE TOGETHER FOR
A NEW GENERATION OF LEADERS OF PEACE
5 December 2023
11.00 – 12.30
UN Headquarters, New York, CR8
Rondine’s World House students launched the global “Leaders for Peace” campaign on 10 December 2018; at the time, those young peacebuilders coming from areas of conflict felt the urgence to start an advocacy action on States and Governments in face of what appeared as an unstoppable tendency towards the return of violence, armed conflicts and hatred between peoples of the world. Through the campaign, later prolonged until the end of 2023 because of the forced halt of international advocacy activities imposed by the Covid-19 outbreak, they asked – and still ask – all UN Members to invest more in education for peace, also by structurally inserting the teaching of Human Rights in national education systems, and by devoting a symbolic amount from their budgets to scholarships for bright young leaders of peace.
Since 2018, Rondine and the Permanent Mission of Italy to the United Nations promoted a yearly follow-up event at the UN Headquarters, with Rondine students commenting international developments in the field of peace, human rights and transformative peace education together with diplomats and experts from all over the world. These events acted as warning signs, focusing on how to defuse new and re-emerging tensions, and how to support youth peace leadership in an increasingly fragile post-Covid world.
THE EVENT
By proposing a fifth follow-up event at the United Nations, Rondine and its student community reassert their commitment to a world free of armed conflict and the reduction of violence through education and peace education, trainings on youth peace leadership, and by reaffirming the values expressed through the “Leaders for Peace” global campaign, in line with the United Nations’ Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and UNSC Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security. Together with the Permanent Missions of Italy, Costa Rica, and Monaco, partners of Rondine and supporters of the campaign, and UNAOC, whith which Rondine has signed a Memorandum on Understanding for mutual cooperation in 2023, Rondine’s students appeal to all Permanent Missions and delegates at the United Nations to join a conversation on how to promote youth-led initiatives in the fields of peace, peacebuilding and international relations as recommended by the UN Secretary-General Guterres in his recent “Agenda for Peace” briefing and towards the 2024 Summit of the Future.
The event will also set the stage for the launch the campaign’s main output, the “Global Leaders School” project, starting in 2024, and to announce the extension of the campaign until 2030, aiming to transform “Leaders for Peace” in a permanent instrument of peace advocacy for young people from all over the world, with a view to accelerate the implementation of Agenda 2030 and more specifically the advancement of SDG16 on promoting peaceful and inclusive societies.
AGENDA
Opening Remarks
Miguel Angel Moratinos, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and High Representative for the UNAOC
Maurizio Massari, Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations in New York
Maritza Chan, Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations in New York
Isabelle Picco, Permanent Representative of Monaco to the United Nations in New York
Panel: “Investing on transformative peace education”
Franco Vaccari, President and Founder, Rondine – Cittadella della Pace
Nnaemeka Phil Eke-okocha, Rondine d’Oro and Project Lead, UNSDS Youth
Giulia Tariello and Lukas Svana, EU Youth Delegates to the United Nations
Concluding Remarks
Felipe Paullier, Assistant Secretary-General for Youth Affairs (TBC)
