By Julia Renner

From 29.01. 2019 to 02.02.2019 Julia Renner - Associate of the Peace Academy Rhineland-Palatinate - was invited by GIZ and the EU to the conference "Palestinian Youth in Lebanon: the Quest for Participation" in Beirut. In this conference report, she describes her impressions.

Young people are seen as the driving force behind creative processes and changes that have a positive impact on social and political development. However, they often experience resistance from established political actors when it comes to proactively engaging in socio-political processes. Regardless of the highly complex political situation in the Middle East, young Palestinians living in Lebanon are using the spaces available to them to engage politically. The various initiatives and programs presented at the conference offer young people in general, and Palestinians in particular, the opportunity to be perceived as equal actors in the region. The aim is to give them a voice in current political events, but also with a view to future decisions.

The conference "Palestinian Youth in Lebanon: the Quest for Participation", held in Beirut, was co-financed and jointly organized by the Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit and the European Union. The aim of the conference was to bring together national and international decision-makers and stakeholders with young Palestinians living in Lebanon. Panel discussions and workshops were held in an attempt to identify common interests in order to formulate recommendations for action for labor market integration and better participation in social and political processes. Another objective of the conference was to provide a space for exchange in order to motivate other participants to use their own potential for socio-political engagement by presenting successful participation stories.

Partnership at eye level

In his opening speech, Dr. Georg Birgelen, the German ambassador to Lebanon, emphasized that young people should be seen as partners with whom we work together as equals. This idea served as a leitmotif for the rest of the conference. Robert Krengel, Head of the MENA Region Department of the EU Delegation to Lebanon, emphasized the importance of a direct dialogue with young people rather than a dialogue about young people. The Director of GIZ in Lebanon emphasized the potential of young people as a driving force for social renewal and change.

The panels discussed a variety of global case studies of the integration of young people in political processes and peacebuilding missions. On the other hand, current difficulties in the integration of Palestinians in education and labor market programs, as well as in the field of political and civil society decision-making processes in Lebanon were addressed. During the panel discussions, the importance of increasing the reach of youth inclusion was repeatedly emphasized, both at the national level in Lebanon and at the regional level in the Middle East. Raphael Obonyo, initiator of the Youth Congress Kenya, summarized these statements very well during his statement: "if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together."

During the panels and the subsequent discussion rounds, it became clear that all participants were in favor of dialogue forums and improved framework conditions for the involvement of young people in the overall political process. However, the interests of the various participating groups differed greatly when it came to concrete implementation.

The workshops offered on the second day of the conference included thematic links between the involvement of young people in the formulation of the 2019-2025 Youth Strategy through various types of consensus decisions and ways to increase the participation of young people in the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. Other workshops dealt with the integration of young people into the work processes and programs of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the relationship of international actors with Palestinians in Lebanon and the region. The participants developed concrete ideas for better participation and policy recommendations. These were presented in the concluding panel and discussed with political decision-makers.

Summary

The conference "Palestinian Youth in Lebanon: the Quest for Participation" made an important contribution to improving awareness of the needs and interests of Palestinian youth in Lebanon as well as the possibilities and limitations of implementing these. The group of participants reflected the aim of the conference: to take diversity into account and, above all, to offer young people from political organizations and academia, but also activists and civil society actors, a common space for exchange. The discussions between participants highlighted the desire of young people in the Middle East for safe spaces for exchange and direct discussion forums. The UN resolution "On Youth Peace and Security" calls on societies to give young people more political space. In order to shape sustainable political, economic and social processes, including in the context of peacebuilding missions, the more intensive participation of young people is essential.