The African Union Special Envoy on Youth says South Sudanese youth at the frontline of peace building are not recognised at national or international level.
Speaking to Catholic Radio Network-CRN, African Union Youth Envoy Aya Chebbi says, she is impressed with young people in the country working hard for peace, despite negative portrayal of conflict in South Sudan.
‘Young people have been suffering a lot and they really want peace, our visit is to listen to their grievances and am so inspired by the women initiatives and entrepreneurs plus Promised Land initiative, which is so resilient’, she adds.
‘Young people really own the revitalised peace agreement and they really want its implementation and want to see it happening’, she stresses.
Chebbi adds that youth has been asking to be included at all level of peace processes: negotiation, signing and implementation. However, the signatories have not fully incorporated them.
‘I advocate for young women in particular in violence against women and child marriage which is at the highest rates which needs attention’, she says.
Gender issues should be seen as part of one of the issues in South Sudan that triggers insecurity or even conflict. There is need for local and national strategies to comprehensively address such challenges. The AU Youth Envoy urges authorities to analyse and bring to an end such practices across all the communities in South Sudan.
Simon Marot Touloung, African Youth Action Network leader, says that all issues that faces the youth should be addressed at once, despite the hardships that face the youth leadership.
Marot adds that there are numerous curable diseases that can be managed but it is not the case. He further says that the challenges make some of the youth hopeless at the different levels in the community.
Aya Chebbi is an award-winning Pan-African feminist. She is the first African Union Youth Envoy and the youngest diplomat at the African Union Commission Chairperson’s Cabinet.
Chebbi is the founder of multiple platforms such as Youth Programme of Holistic Empowerment Mentoring (Y-PHEM) coaching the next generation to be positive change agents, Afrika Youth Movement (AYM), one of Africa’s largest Pan-African youth-led movements and Afresist, a youth leadership program and multimedia platform documenting youth work in Africa.
She served on the Board of Directors of CIVICUS World Alliance for Citizen Participation, the World Refugee Council and Oxfam Independent Commission on Sexual Misconducts.
Chebbi became a world renowned blogger during 2010/2011 Tunisia’s Revolution running Proudly Tunisian. She has been traveling across the African continent to support and train thousands of social movement leaders and activists on mobilization, blogging, leadership and non-violence and continues to travel the world as a scholar, mentor, speaker and activist.
She spoke to CRN this week during her visit to South Sudan and had interacted with various youth groups and Internally Displaced Persons or IDPs at the Protection of Civilians sites or PoCs in Juba before.