Event Date: November 24, 2025 - 4:00pm to 6:00pm
Location: FSS 4007 and online, 120 University Private, University of Ottawa

Registration: Google Forms

Presented by CIPS, Accept International and Cooperation Canada

Persistent armed conflicts worldwide have revealed that a significant proportion of frontline combatants are young individuals, including women, aged 18 to 35.

In recent years, global agendas such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN Youth Strategy, and frameworks like Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) have highlighted the crucial role of youth empowerment in peacebuilding. Yet a substantial number of “invisible youth,” particularly those associated with non-state armed groups (YANSAG), remain largely overlooked.

Conflict actors under the age of 18 are protected by international norms, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, and the Paris Principles. However, upon reaching 18, even individuals previously recruited as child soldiers often fall outside the scope of protection and support and are instead primarily treated as merely security threats. This situation not only limits their potential as youth and former conflict actors with lived experiences but also makes it more difficult for them to break free from cycles of violence and hatred, ultimately posing a significant obstacle to achieving sustaining peace.

In the current context of global instability, where even the United Nations Security Council faces functional challenges, it is now crucial to consider the role that Canada and Japan, as G7 members with influence in international affairs and a shared commitment to human security, should play, as well as the cooperation and stance both countries should adopt in shaping global responses.

This event, co-hosted by Accept International, Cooperation Canada, and the University of Ottawa, will bring together university professors, experts in relevant fields, the Ambassador of Japan to Canada, and prominent Canadian politicians. The discussion will focus on “The Role of International Norms and Global Agendas in Transforming Youth Combatants into Unique Agents of Peace.” Within the broader frameworks of international conflict resolution, peacebuilding, security, and youth empowerment, the dialogue will explore the roles Canada and Japan can assume and how we can collaborate to ensure that international norms and global agendas contribute to the pursuit of sustaining peace through the empowerment and reintegration of overlooked YANSAG.

Speakers:

Yosuke Nagai, Executive Director of Accept International and the Founder of the Global Taskforce for Youth Combatants, Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford.

More speakers to be announced.

Moderator:

Scott E. Simon (Ph.D., Anthropology, McGill), Professor in the School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies, co-holder of the Chair in Taiwan Studies, research member of CIPS and the HRREC, Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.