Even though, the G7 Leaders missed the chance to explicitly take youth in matters of peace and security into account, a wide range of stakeholders welcomed the recommendations on Youth, Peace and Security and expressed their intention to further its potential. Deliberations during Youth7 have shown, that the YPS agenda and its holistic concept of youth participation may feed negotiations in any of the thematic Tracks established. The potential of main- streaming YPS across topics ultimately means attaching more importance to young people as agents of change in our societies. impression was that there is little knowledge about and understanding of YPS in-house, which recon- firmed the need for both further dissemination of the agenda and guidance from civil society, academia and countries that are further advanced on YPS so that successful national implementation can be achieved. Multiple non-governmental stake- holders, including the United Network of Young Peacebuilders, the Kofi Annan Foundation, Search for Common Ground and the Global Coalition on Youth, Peace and Security applauded the Youth7 recommendations on YPS. NATO’s Special Repre- sentative for Women, Peace and Security pledged to include youth in her mandate and has emerged as a strong ally for YPS. Unfortunately, the G7 Leaders’ Communiqué did not explicitly take youth in matters of peace and security into account. The expectations set forth by the Youth7 are straightforward and require investing in translating these recommendations into tangible actions. A key milestone will be to facilitate national multi-stakeholder coalitions within G7 countries to bring national youth, governments, civil society, academia and interest groups together to define clear objectives and potential cooperation, develop a national roadmap for implementation and set up monitoring and follow-up mechanisms. A platform that generates ideas, exchanges knowledges and inspires action and a strong network of YPS cham- pions and championing organisations may emerge in the future. This process should be youth-led, inclusive and participatory.
Given that the Delegations were composed of four members each, a Delegate was designated by each country to shape the YPS discussions on top of their initial track. This led not only to additional work- load for the outstanding double-track Delegates, but it also shaped the modalities of the work. Most of the work leading to the final recommenda- tions was conducted prior to the in-person Youth7 Summit thanks to smooth digital collaboration with an overall active engagement and full commitment of Delegates. Online sessions included an introduc- tion to the YPS agenda led by an external expert, a brainstorming session to identify key concerns of the Delegations, self-organised drafting sessions of sub-groups and three rounds of feedback, suggestions from the Track Sherpa, negotiations, and fine-tuning. Throughout the process, multiple draft versions were circulated so that a consensus for initial draft recommendations could be achieved prior to the Summit. In the preparation, core demands emerged early on and – despite last-minute negotiations during the voting session of the Summit – were reconfirmed by their adoption: First, improve youth participation in formal and informal peace and democratic processes through recognition, countering exclusion and partner- ships with youth organizations. Second, guarantee protection of conflict-affected youth, counter narratives of youth as threats and focus on human security and rights for migrant and refugee youth. Third, institutionalise YPS by develop national strategies in co-leadership with youth with ensured funding, participation and follow-up mecha- nism. Lastly, protect, support and finance young people’s activities in response to conflict and war everywhere, including in Ukraine. Overall and most importantly, governments and civil society organi- zations need to turn their attention towards young people, to reconsider their perceptions and to work with young people as partners. The recommendations were received with great interest by a wide range of stakeholders both in Germany, across the G7 and beyond. In Germany, high-level representatives of both the Federal Foreign Ministry (AA) and the Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ) demonstrated their intention to further explore the potentials of the YPS agenda and expressed their increased commitment to implement YPS. A general
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