The Regional Intergenerational Meeting, held in Bogota on 27 and 28 November, was another milestone in the implementation of the Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean. This process is driven by the Youth Working Group of the United Nations Regional Collaborative Platform in Latin America and the Caribbean (RCP LAC), whose main objective is to support UN country teams in improving their joint work on youth and young people.
The meeting, which brought together young activists, peacebuilders and representatives of youth organizations working for peace across the region, as well as national youth authorities from 12 governments, marked a milestone in advancing regional efforts to strengthen the meaningful participation of young people in peacebuilding and security. The participation of more than 60 youth and ministerial authorities from 22 countries in the region resulted in a roadmap for the next year of work. The voices of youth participants were heard on-site by Ms. Elizabeth Spehar, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support in the Department of Political Affairs and Peacebuilding.
The event was convened by the RCP LAC together with the Government of Colombia through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Presidential Council for Youth - Colombia Joven, and also included the active participation of national and regional representatives of UN agencies, funds and programmes (UNDP, UNFPA, UN Women, ILO, UNICEF, Verification Mission), the International Youth Organization for Ibero-America (OIJ), as well as international and intergovernmental cooperation agencies.
