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1. Forthcoming policy developments

2. Ongoing debates 

Forthcoming policy developments

On 20^th of August 2021, Finland’s first National Action Plan on the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution on Youth, Peace and Security was published by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. According to the publication information given by the ministry, 'the plan is prepared in collaboration with active youth and representatives of youth organisations, central government, research institutes and civil society. The Action Plan specifies five priorities: participation; prevention; partnerships; protection; and disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration. The goals and actions apply to Finland's actions both at home and globally. The Action Plan's cross-cutting theme is intersectionality, while other important themes are climate change and new technologies.' Both the government and civil society will be active in implementing the programme, see more in: Youth, Peace and Security: Finland's National Action Plan 2021–2024. See also the News of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs on 28^th of August 2021: National Action Plan on Youth, Peace and Security focuses on young people’s participation in peace work.

This youth inclusive policy development is also under scientific studying. In the subproject ´Creating sustainable well-being´ of the ALL-YOUTH research project 2018-2023 the research group have observed  and been actively involved in the development of the above mentioned National Action Plan on the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution on Youth, Peace and Security. The studies focus on environmental conflict resolution and the creation of new methods opening up possibilities for youth to be part of the environmental conflict resolution processes, see more about the theoretical background of the process.

The research shows that youth should not be responsibilised in a top-down manner when it comes to rebuilding trust between the actors in post-conflict situations where conflicts have a tendency to re-escalate (see Mustalahti & Agrawal eds. 2021 Responsibilization in Natural Resource Governance.) The strategies of making individuals responsible for their own well-being is a feature consistent with the ongoing governance revolution in other social domains, such as illness and health, education, crime and legality, and corporate cost management. In sum, youth participation and inclusion for the prevention and resolution of conflict requires long-term state efforts to ensure the social protection of youth constituencies (See: Event report of the First International Symposium on Youth Participation in Peace Processes).

Youth-led mediation efforts require the integration of conflict sensitive and do-no-harm- principles. The mediation efforts as well as collaborative processes are long-term transformation processes that require time, recognition of the conflict roots, and dialogue to respectfully restructure the events and facts that initiated and increased the dispute. The young people who are involved in these types of long processes need protection of their rights, including the right to withdraw from the process when their civic spaces or private life and families are at risk.

The ALL-YOUTH-research project is funded by the government, namely by the Strategic Research Council under Academy of Finland, decision no 312689. An important element of such strategic research is the active collaboration between those who produce new knowledge and those who use it.

Ongoing debates

According to the news (available in Finnish) published on the 12^th of April 2023 on the Finnish Government’s official web pages, a new ‘Young people’s climate change and nature group’ has been formed, it’s members consisting of 14 nominees from a total of 77 applicants. The group will be tasked with supporting the ministries in the planning, implementation and impact assessment of youth participation. The aim is to ensure the fairness of different policy measures from the perspective of future generations as mentioned in the government press release the 20^th of February 2023. It is also mentioned, that the ‘Young people’s climate change and nature group’ serves as a sub-group of the Agenda 2030 Youth Group and will organise a youth climate and nature summit every two years. The aim of the summit is to enable young people and children to participate more extensively in decision-making concerning their future. The members of the group were elected by the Finnish National Youth Council Allianssi in cooperation with the Ministry of the Environment and the Prime Minister’s Office. The term of office is two years.