TRIPOLI, SEBHA – Around 65 young men and women alongside activists, officials, and local journalists from the southern region, joined an online meeting with Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Stephanie Koury, on the current situation in Libya, the UNSMIL-facilitated political process and particularly the recent agreement of the Smaller Convening and next steps.
During the session organized on Wednesday by the Youth Office in Sebha, participants from the municipalities of Umm Al-Aranib, Ubari, Brak Al-Shati, Burgan, and Sebha attended the meeting in person and welcomed the Smaller Convening agreement, signed in Tripoli on 30 August.
“The 4+4 [Smaller Convening] track represents a genuine opportunity to break the political deadlock plaguing the country and to push the political roadmap forward,” a young male participant from Sebha said. This was echoed by a young female participant from Sebha, “the agreement offers a glimmer of hope for unifying state institutions, an absolute priority for us,” adding that the country needed to move beyond the multiplicity of political tracks and initiatives and instead unite efforts behind this track to achieve comprehensive national elections.
Participants reiterated the importance of including the Fezzan region in any political processes and ending the south's economic and political marginalization. A young female media professional said, “We must stop talking about unified institutions only; we need to foster a sense of belonging to a united Libya where all Libyans enjoy equal rights.” A student participant agreed, saying: “Building Libya begins with ensuring justice across all regions regarding opportunities for education, training, employment, and political participation.”
Youth inclusion and representation in the political process remain a top priority for participants, who called for allocating specific seats for youth within state institutions to ensure their voices are heard and that their participation is meaningful.
DSRSG Koury emphasized UNSMIL's recognition of the importance of engaging youth as effective and important partners in policymaking and decision-making. “The Structured Dialogue process witnessed highly active participation from youth across various regions, both in the dialogue itself and through the accompanying Youth Digital Platform,” she said.
“The youth participation should not be limited to securing seats in any dialogue process; rather, young people and youth organizations must join forces to establish a robust youth network capable of conveying youth ideas and demands to the national and local authorities and holding them accountable to ensure the effective execution of their mandates,” she added.
At the end of the meeting, the participants conveyed a set of recommendations to the Mission for the political process, which include:
- Advance political consensus to finalize the electoral legal framework, enable the High National Elections Commission (HNEC), and commit to a firm election timetable;
- Form a joint follow-up mechanism to continuously track recommendation progress with relevant authorities;
- Support unification of state institutions to end political division and directly tie political stability to economic development, better public services, and job creation;
- Help youth, including women, persons with disabilities, and representatives from Southern Libya (Fezzan) transition from being passive listeners to active partners in peacebuilding, policy formulation, and execution;
- Establish direct communication channels, document youth outputs, and increase UNSMIL's physical presence in Southern regions to ensure local recommendations are tracked and implemented;
- Introduce awareness programmes focusing on youth unemployment, job opportunities, political participation, elections, etc.
The Smaller Convening is a key component of the UNSMIL political roadmap aimed at addressing the first two milestones of the roadmap to enable the holding of credible, free and inclusive national elections. In addition, the Structured Dialogue published its recommendations on governance, economy, security and human rights and national reconciliation in June.These recommendations will help inform the priorities to be addressed to create the conditions for holding national elections and inform subsequent steps in the political process.
UNSMIL continues to advocate for youth voices to be heard through its YouEngage programme and the Ra’idat training programme for young women, and will be holding discussions and trainings in person and online in the coming months around the political process.
