Photo: TANG CHHIN SOTHY / AFP
As the world grapples with armed conflicts, political polarization, forced displacement, climate insecurity and the relentless spread of misinformation, peace has become far more than a diplomatic aspiration. It is a prerequisite for human security, social cohesion and sustainable development.
Governments, diplomats and international organizations will always play central roles in negotiating peace. But they cannot build lasting peace on their own. Peace is ultimately forged in communities, classrooms and everyday conversations by people who choose dialogue over division.
Among them, young people have a particularly important role to play.
Nearly half of the world’s population is under the age of 30. They possess the imagination, energy and creativity needed to confront some of humanity’s greatest challenges. Yet they are too often viewed as passive beneficiaries of peace rather than active participants in creating it.
That is a mistake.
If societies genuinely aspire to lasting peace, they must empower young people not simply as the leaders of tomorrow but as peacebuilders today.
I came to this conviction through personal experience.
Last year, my own country, Cambodia, was caught in armed conflict along its border with a neighboring country. Families were displaced. Innocent civilians lost their lives. Communities were divided, while countless people were left with physical and psychological scars that will endure long after the fighting has ended.
Watching those events unfold reinforced a simple truth: war is never confined to battlefields. Its consequences ripple through families, economies and entire generations. It also reminded me that peace cannot be taken for granted. It must be nurtured long before violence erupts.
That realization inspired me to organize the ‘Young Scholars for Peace: Building Collective Youth Leadership for Peacebuilding’ workshop at Mahatma Gandhi University in India.
The workshop brought together 14 young scholars from Afghanistan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Mauritius, Nigeria and Yemen. Although they came from countries with very different histories and political realities, their conversations revealed remarkable common ground.
For Manas Jyoti Talukdar of India, peace is not a dramatic achievement marked by a single agreement. It is a lifelong commitment that begins within each individual before it transforms families, communities and nations. His reflection challenged the tendency to search for peace only through political settlements while overlooking the values that must first be cultivated in everyday life.
From the Cambodian perspective, I expanded that idea, describing peace as something that grows outward—from our minds to our families, communities, nations and ultimately the world. Lasting peace, I argued, depends not only on governments but also on young people willing to turn understanding into meaningful action.
For Abdul Sami Haidari of Afghanistan, peace begins with a simple but profound choice: to understand rather than judge. Dialogue, he reminded us, is stronger than violence when people are willing to listen with respect. Lasting peace rests on protecting human dignity, not deepening division.
Sami Abdullah Mohammed of Yemen added another important dimension. Peace, he argued, is more than the absence of war. It exists where justice, dignity and hope are present, safeguarding not only lives today but also the dreams of future generations.
Despite their different backgrounds, participants repeatedly returned to the same concerns: inequality, discrimination, polarization, displacement and the erosion of social trust. Their experiences differed, but their conclusions did not. Peace is not solely the responsibility of presidents, diplomats or international organizations. It begins with individuals, grows through communities and is sustained by justice, empathy and a willingness to listen.
Their reflections echoed the work of Norwegian peace scholar Johan Galtung, who distinguished between negative peace—the absence of direct violence—and positive peace—societies built on justice, equality, respect for human rights and institutions capable of addressing the root causes of conflict. Peace, in other words, is measured not simply by whether people survive, but by whether they can live with dignity, security and opportunity.
Education is indispensable to achieving that vision.
Universities are more than places of learning. They bring together people from different cultures, beliefs and disciplines, creating spaces where disagreement can be explored through dialogue rather than confrontation. These experiences cultivate empathy, critical thinking and mutual respect—the very qualities that peaceful societies require.
One of the workshop’s most valuable lessons was that peacebuilding is not the responsibility of diplomats alone. Every profession has a role to play. Lawyers defend justice and the rule of law. Teachers foster tolerance and critical thinking. Engineers develop technologies that improve lives and strengthen communities. Public health professionals build resilient societies, while environmental scientists help address resource pressures that can fuel conflict.
Peace, therefore, is not confined to negotiating tables. It is a shared responsibility requiring collaboration across every discipline and every sector of society.
The workshop also demonstrated the importance of listening to diverse experiences. Participants shared personal stories of conflict, resilience and reconciliation from their own countries. Despite their different circumstances, many described the same struggles with exclusion, displacement and social division. Those conversations became a powerful reminder that diversity is not an obstacle to peace but one of its greatest strengths.
Youth leadership in peacebuilding is not defined by political office or formal authority. It is defined by a willingness to listen, engage in dialogue, conduct research, work alongside communities and inspire change.
This vision is reflected in United Nations Security Council Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security, which recognizes young people as essential partners in conflict prevention and sustainable peacebuilding. Rather than viewing youth simply as victims of conflict, the resolution recognizes them as indispensable agents of peace.
The workshop concluded with participants drafting a Collective Youth Peace Statement, committing themselves to dialogue, inclusion and social responsibility. More than a symbolic declaration, it was a pledge to transform ideas into action.
Together, they declared: “We are united for peace. We appeal to world leaders to stop the wars, save innocent lives and choose dialogue over violence. Wars destroy lives, separate families and leave scars that endure for generations. As young scholars, we pledge to be voices for peace, justice and humanity, working together to build a more compassionate, inclusive and peaceful world.”
As global challenges become increasingly interconnected, no government or institution can build peace alone. Lasting peace demands collaboration across cultures, disciplines and generations. Investing in young people’s leadership is therefore not simply an investment in the future—it is an investment in the resilience of our societies today.
Peace is not a destination reached through a single treaty or ceasefire. It is a continuous process of learning, listening and acting together. Every act of empathy, every meaningful conversation and every effort to bridge differences strengthens the foundations of peace.
The leaders who will shape tomorrow’s world are already among us. The question is not whether young people are ready to lead. It is whether we are prepared to trust them with the responsibility of building a more peaceful world.
The original version of this article first appeared in Cambodianess: https://cambodianess.com/article/young-people-are-not-tomorrows-peacebuilders-they-are-todays
