DOHA: Young leaders from across the Middle East and Asia vowed to make a difference in their communities by urging for peace amid turbulent times across the region at the recently concluded Empower 2015 youth conference hosted by Reach Out To Asia (ROTA).
In its seventh year, Empower 2015 hosted 450 youths from 23 countries.
#EMPOWER2015, the conference’s official Twitter hashtag, became the number one trending topic in Qatar, with an online conversation generating around 12,000 tweets by young people from the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, Asia and North America who came to Doha for the event. The hashtag also ranked among top Twitter trends worldwide.
At the close of the conference, a special task force was formed to give young people more voice in building ‘peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development’ across the region. The task force of 20 youth leaders convened a special session to identify recommendations that support the United Nations Post-2015 Development Agenda. The recommendations will be the cornerstone of a Global Advocacy Campaign that will seek to create links with key youth forums, conferences and meetings around the world including the World Humanitarian Youth Summit, which Doha will host in September this year.
Tunisian participant Ahmed Alratibi, said: “The gathering discussed several topics through its workshops, meetings and activities that have enhanced our capabilities to build peaceful societies, which is the main theme of the year. I have benefitted a lot from this event. It helped me learn about various cultures, nationalities and backgrounds.”
Aisha Al Joudi, a Bahraini participant, said: “We have learned the principles of peaceful coexistence through our interaction and discussion with many young people who came from the East and the West. We may not have the same opinions, but we have learned here that disagreement does not damage amicability.”
Beth Hat, a British participant, said: “Thanks to Empower conference, I have seen how the cooperation between East and West youth can make a difference and positive change globally. Our interaction and cooperation will not be only limited to Empower, we have already formed networking groups to share our projects with each other after Empower conference.”
Muhannad Al Bahari, a participant from Libya, said: “We have learned a lot from Empower workshops aiming to enhance youth skills for achieving peaceful societies. The best thing I have learned from this conference is that we are dealing with a person as a human being and not based on his or her nationality.”
“Current events around the world, especially in this region, have challenged our notions of peaceful societies and forced a rethink of what we can do to improve human security, prosperity and happiness,” said Essa Al Mannai, ROTA’s Executive Director. The Peninsula
