Maat Participates in the International Academic Conference on International Humanitarian Law

Nourhan Mustafa: Giving priority to youth in reform processes enhances their role in preventing armed conflict

 Maat for Peace, Development and Human Rights participated in the International Academic Conference on International Humanitarian Law (IHL) entitled "Armed Conflict and Protection of Future Generations 2022", which was organized by the Canadian Red Cross Society in cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Canada and the University of Saskatchewan, Department of Political Studies and College of Law. The virtually-held conference focused on the importance of merging IHL with the law of armed conflict.

Maat participated in a panel discussion at the conference on the challenges facing the implementation of IHL and how to protect future generations. In its intervention, Maat indicated that 60% of armed conflicts have been active for at least one decade, and more than 60% of armed conflicts have been going on so far. All this is even exacerbated by the proliferation of non-governmental groups, which narrows down the possibilities of solving them in 2022.

In this context, Nourhan Mustafa, director of the International Humanitarian Law Unit at Maat, pointed out that there are approximately 146 million young people between the ages of 15 to 35 years in the Arab region, making up about 33.6% of the total population of the Arab world. The past decade, she added, has witnessed an unprecedented increase in the participation of young people at armed conflicts, whether as victims or perpetrators. Today, there is an estimated 300,000 child and youth combatants actively participating in these conflicts.

Mustafa recommended that giving priority to youth in reform processes enhances their role in spreading peace and security as well as settling armed conflicts, noting that Maat pays more attention to this issue by organizing training courses to raise the capacity of young people in disseminating and promoting international humanitarian law. Throughout one year, Maat succeeded in providing training to and educating many young people in areas affected by armed conflicts on the application of international humanitarian law.