Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon Friday announced the formation of an Advisory Group of Experts for the Progress Study on Youth, Peace and Security, as mandated by Security Council resolution 2250 (2015).

“Young people can break barriers, reach across divisions and forge understanding. The United Nations Security Council has finally recognized the importance of youth.       Last December, it adopted Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security.,” the Secretary-General said in a speech at the University of Calgary on the occasion of International Youth Day. “Today I can announce that we are forming a new Advisory Group to study progress on that historic resolution. Nearly half of the Group’s members are young. Some of them survived conflict. One lost her father in war. Another was shot. Others were refugees.”

Graeme Simpson of South Africa, Director of Interpeace USA, was appointed lead author. The Advisory Group members are: Farea Al-Muslimi (Yemen), Luz Alcira Granada Contreras (Colombia), Scott Attran (USA), Chernor Bah (Sierra Leone), Ikram Ben Said (Tunisia), Malual Bol Kiir (South Sudan), Kessy Martine Ekomo-Soignet (CAR), Ilwad Elman (Somalia), Matilda Flemming (Finland), Terri-Ann Gilbert-Roberts (Jamaica), Saba Ismail (Pakistan), Thevuni Kavindi Kotigala (Sri Lanka), Nur Laiq (UK), Mieke Lopes Cardozo (Netherlands), Robert Muggah (Canada), Hussein Nabil Murtaja (Palestine), Funmi Olonisakin (Nigeria), Salim Salamah (Syria), Ali Saleem (Pakistan), Hajer Sharief (Libya), and Marc Sommers (USA).

The appointments follow a request in the resolution for the Secretary-General “to carry out a progress study on the youth’s positive contribution to peace processes and conflict resolution, in order to recommend effective responses at local, national, regional and international levels.”

In December of 2015, the Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2250 (2015) on Youth, Peace and Security. Resolution 2250 (2015) was the first resolution to recognize the important and positive role young women and men play in the maintenance and promotion of international peace and security.

The findings and recommendations of the Study will be presented to the Security Council in December 2017, on the second anniversary of the adoption of the resolution.