In terms of numbers alone, the Arab world is unfortunately experiencing more conflicts than ever before, whether armed confrontations or financial crises. Many of the protracted armed conflicts in the region have entered their second decade or are deep into their first.
Not only have these conflicts lasted for too long, but they have also had terrible human, financial, and material repercussions. If we were to look at the armed conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Libya alone, over 960,000 people have lost their lives, 41.4 million are in immediate need of humanitarian assistance, 11.7 million are displaced, and 7.47 million have had to flee their countries altogether. In addition, there have been trillions of dollars in financial, material, infrastructural, and even environmental losses.
Youth and children make up the vast majority of the Arab world, with an estimated 65 million people under the age of 30 living in these four countries alone. Many of the younger generation are not old enough to understand the drivers and underlying reasons behind their countries’ conflicts. However, this generation has lived conflict in every sense, and they continue to experience major negative implications, including unemployment, truancy, and sociopolitical marginalization.
They also continue to be targeted by armed violent extremist, terrorist, and sectarian factions, and have been used as scapegoats to be perpetrators or victims of these organizations’ heinous actions. With many of these groups retaining strong and influential political arms, young people’s confidence in organized political processes is dwindling, and apathy is becoming more universal.
These political factions, whose corrupt practices have alienated large segments of societies, have prevented young people from participating in their countries’ resolution, recovery, and development roadmaps. For instance, in a survey conducted by MENAACTION in early 2022, when young people across the Arab world asked about the single biggest challenge they faced nowadays, 14.4 percent said they were being actively excluded from political and public life, and were thus unable to contribute to their countries’ plans.
Such perceptions of marginalization are alarming, especially considering that armed groups and sectarian factions constantly compete with legitimate governments for public support. This means that the aforementioned 14.4 percent are prone to recruitment by armed groups, not to mention irregular migration, among other negative ramifications. Perhaps the only preventive factor is their tremendous desire to assume their rightful role in their countries’ crisis resolutions.
source: https://www.arabnews.com/