Young Changemakers Gulalai Ismail Pakistan More than 50,000 people have been killed and millions have been internally displaced by war and violence in north-west Pakistan in the last three decades. Held back by a lack of education, patriarchal traditions and feudal customs, young women and girls have suffered even more than others. But inspired by her father, a human rights activist, Gulalai was determined not to let her gender be a barrier. In 2002, at the age of 16, Gulalai and her sister Saba established Aware Girls, an organisation that seeks to empower young women and girls in the region by teaching them leadership skills, educating them about their rights, and seeking equal access for women to education, employment and social services. Aware Girls relies on digital media tools and community mobilisation techniques to promote gender equality, human rights, peace, sexual and reproductive health, and female participation in political processes. A key feature of the organisation’s strategy is to encourage young men to join its cause. Gulalai is undeterred by the shortage of funds or the threats to her life. In her view, ‘peace is not just the absence of war, it is about respect and tolerance’, and she firmly believes women have an important role to play in that process. Gulalai was named the Commonwealth Young Person of the Year for the Asia Region in 2015. Peacebuilding Support Office. The principles outline numerous approaches to peace-building: • participation of youth in conflict prevention and resolution • acting in accordance with human rights frameworks • promoting economic prosperity • strengthening civic and political participation • fostering inclusion across generations and sections of society. • protection of youth from violence They frame young people’s contribution as pivotal, and one that should be ‘actively supported, solicited and regarded as essential to building peaceful communities and supporting democratic governance and transition’.63 4.5 Conclusion On 9 December 2015, during its 7,573rd meeting, the UN Security Council agreed Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security – the first Security Council resolution specifically on young people in the history of the UN. Though not the first time the Council has discussed youth, it ‘marks a milestone because it changes fundamentally how the Security Council considers young people’.64 It commits the UN Security Council to five areas of action: • investment in the economic, socio-political and socio-cultural spheres • partnerships with youth as peace-builders • reintegration of young men and women after involvement in armed conflict. In the context of violent conflict, young people are often stereotyped as perpetrators of violence or innocent victims who must be protected. While it is true that young people disproportionately experience harmful effects of violent conflict and some engage in violence, there is another undeniable reality: the vast majority of young people choose not to engage in violence, and many are active agents of peace. Young people are too frequently caught in fragile and conflict zones that have a negative impact on their wellbeing and development. They are a majority of global refugees, they account for 43 per cent of homicides, they are recruited into the military and militia groups