Libyan youth call for sustaining ceasefire agreement and participating in state-building

Tripoli, January 24, 2025 (LANA) - The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) organized a workshop in Tripoli, on Friday, on strengthening the ceasefire agreement and its full implementation, with the participation of 25 young Libyan men and women.

The mission said that the meeting is one of a series of meetings organized by UNSMIL as part of the "Youth Engage" program, which aims to engage 1,000 young men and women from all over Libya, to collect their ideas and recommendations to inform the mission's youth-oriented strategies, promote inclusion, and raise the voices of those who are traditionally excluded.

The United Nations Support Mission in Libya indicated that it has met within this program so far, with more than 600 young men and women from all over Libya.

The Deputy Head of the Ceasefire Monitoring Section at the Mission, Mohammed Al-Najjar, briefed the participants on the work of the 5+5 Joint Military Commission and its efforts to support the ceasefire agreement and prepare a database of mercenaries and foreign fighters present in Libya.

The Mission said, that the participants stressed the need to return mercenaries, foreign fighters and foreign forces to their countries, and focused on the main challenges related to maintaining the ceasefire agreement in the context of building peace in Libya, and the measures that should be taken to address the issues of mercenaries and foreign fighters.

The Mission briefed the participants at the workshop on the political process facilitated by the United Nations, which was announced in December, with the aim of supporting the Libyan parties in charting a path towards inclusive and transparent national elections, including the formation of an advisory committee of independent Libyan legal experts to propose options to address the controversial issues in the electoral laws, and that the committee is not tasked with forming a government.

The youth participants in the workshop recommended that the UN mission intensify its work with the relevant Libyan authorities, including the 5+5 Joint Military Commission, to ensure the withdrawal of mercenaries and foreign fighters from Libya, and to build the capacity of state institutions to work on this while monitoring the ceasefire.

The recommendations stressed the provision of more job opportunities to help Libyan youth who join armed groups for economic reasons, develop alternative sources of income, and reintegrate them into state institutions.

The youth recommended increasing social media campaigns and dialogue to raise awareness in communities about the negative effects of mercenaries, foreign fighters, or joining armed groups on social peace in the country.

They stressed the need to enact the necessary laws to combat fake news and the need for social media platforms to do more to prevent hate speech, and to develop comprehensive mechanisms to ensure that the voices of women, youth, and civil society organizations are heard.

=Lana=