Ms Erika Isabel Yague1, Dr Helen Berents1
1Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
Biography:
Erika Yague is a PhD Candidate at Griffith University. Her expertise is in youth participation and civic engagement in emergencies and peacebuilding. She works with UNICEF Headquarters in New York on Young People's Participation in Peacebuilding and Emergencies. She formerly worked with the UN DPPA-DPO and UNFPA. She was also an emergency responder and government-elected youth councillor in the Philippines. Erika holds a Master’s in Peace and Conflict Studies (University of Queensland), a Bachelor of Science in Community Development (University of the Philippines), and a Youth, Peace and Security Leadership Certificate (Columbia University).
Abstract:
Young people have been at the forefront of independence and peace movements across Southeast Asia. However, little scholarship has focused on their significant role and contribution to the region's past and contemporary peace. They are often overlooked as political actors and agents of peace leading to their exclusion in consultations, decision-making and overall work in building and sustaining peace. This article draws on interviews with adults involved in current institutional regional peace and security mechanisms who also happen to be past youth leaders in Southeast Asia. Their experience allowed us to connect the historical youth engagement and leadership in efforts to attain independence, freedom, and peace, and contemporary youth activism. It explores the transformation of violence that young people face historically and today, alongside emerging international resolutions and frameworks that recognise their critical role in building and sustaining peace. The article argues that understanding regional peace and security can be enhanced through attending to the overlooked role of youth and situating youth leadership today within its unique regional historical context. Paying attention to youth reveals that despite overcoming historical colonialism and authoritarianisms, the existence of violence continues and is transformed to be the ‘violence of exclusion’ due to unresolved systemic inequalities and patriarchal hierarchies. Examining the context of this paradox, whose experiences vary across regions, can help to nuance our understanding of these issues.