🌎 Disarmament, Gender, and Youth:
A Peacebuilding Seminar for Public Officials in Latin America
About the Seminar
This seminar brought together public officials from Latin America to strengthen capacities in disarmament, peacebuilding, and the meaningful participation of youth and women. The project was implemented with the support of the #Youth4Disarmament initiative of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, in collaboration with civil society actors and international agencies. Through six virtual sessions, the seminar explored United Nations normative frameworks such as the Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) Agenda, the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda, and the Disarmament Education Strategy.
Throughout the seminar, we made extensive use of UNODA’s Disarmament Dashboard, which served as a central educational tool, providing key resources, guides, and case studies that informed the sessions, discussions, and practical exercises.
🎥 Virtual Seminar Modules
📍 Session 1: The Role of Public Officials in the Disarmament, Youth, and Gender Agenda
Speakers: Natalia and Alain, from OPANAL
Duration: ~2 hours
This foundational session explored nuclear disarmament from both nuclear-weapon and non-nuclear-weapon states' perspectives, highlighting legal, humanitarian, and security arguments. It included a historical overview of nuclear proliferation, a deep dive into the Treaty of Tlatelolco and OPANAL’s control mechanisms, and its pioneering integration of gender and education in disarmament diplomacy.
📍 Session 2: Disarmament and Sustainable Development
Speaker: Elena Batani from UNLIREC
Duration: ~1 hour 45 minutes
Focused on the connections between disarmament and the Sustainable Development Goals, this session addressed regional violence dynamics, economic impacts of armed violence, and UNLIREC’s practical tools to integrate disarmament in education (SDG 4) and gender equality (SDG 5) policies.
📍 Session 3: Introduction to the YPS and WPS Agendas
Speaker: Paola Rojas from PNUD
Duration: ~1 hour 15 minutes
The module focused on the Women, Peace and Security and Youth, Peace and Security agendas, highlighting their evolution and the importance of women and youth participation in peacebuilding. It discussed barriers such as gender stereotypes and adultocentrism, as well as opportunities for advocacy. The central message was that women and youth are agents of change and essential protagonists in building peaceful societies.
📍 Session 4: Gender, Disarmament, and Sustainable Peace
Speaker: Naiki Olvera from the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders
Duration: ~2 hours
Drawing from personal experience and work with the GNWP, this session explored feminist peacebuilding, theories of change, challenges in civil society funding, and the strategic role of gender-sensitive disarmament advocacy in multilevel governance.
📍 Session 5: Best Practices and Successful Initiatives Towards Disarmament
Speakers: Carolina (Colombian Campaign Against Landmines), Carlos Umana (ICAN), Meylan Ramos (#Youth4Disarmament), Juan Sebastián (Origen de Paz)
Duration: ~2 hours
The panel highlighted local and global success stories in humanitarian disarmament, youth-led peacebuilding, and advocacy strategies. Featured ICAN’s global treaty efforts, arts-based peace education, and survivor-centered narratives aboard the Peace Boat.
📍 Session 6: Planning Actions to Promote Youth Participation
Speakers: Marianela from UNDP and Juan Sebastián from Origen de Paz
This closing session aimed to consolidate previous learnings and move toward the formulation of concrete strategies to strengthen youth participation in peacebuilding and disarmament efforts. Marianela, representing the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), provided an in-depth presentation of the framework established by UN Security Council Resolution 2250, emphasizing the need to recognize youth not just as victims or perpetrators, but as key agents of social change.
She shared successful UNDP-led initiatives such as “Juventudes Transformadoras” in Colombia, which empowers young community leaders, and “Amplifying Youth Voices and Actions” in Jamaica, a program that fosters dialogue, innovation, and youth resilience in contexts of violence. Marianela also highlighted the 2023 regional youth meeting in Colombia, where a shared Youth, Peace, and Security (YPS) agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean was developed, along with actionable roadmaps for national implementation.
The session introduced several digital tools that support youth engagement, including the Youth Peace and Security Dashboard, a platform for monitoring and planning, and referenced the latest Human Development Report, which underlines the transformative role of youth in the digital era.
Juan Sebastián, a young leader from the organization Origen de Paz, reinforced the importance of intergenerational storytelling as a bridge between conflict memories and future peace aspirations. Drawing from his experience aboard the Peace Boat, he shared stories of survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as personal encounters with spiritual leaders like the Dalai Lama and Pope Francis, who emphasized the healing power of art, storytelling, and human connection in peacebuilding.
The session concluded with a call to action, stressing the urgency of fostering intersectoral collaboration (across government, civil society, private sector, and international cooperation) and strengthening existing youth networks, to ensure the continuity, influence, and sustainability of youth-led peacebuilding initiatives across the region.