The Youth Ambassadors of Peace (YAP) recently certified about fifty young people who have successfully completed a one year course on peace-building, at a ceremony held at Join Officers Mess in Kotu.
Addressing the new group of peace educators, the President of Youth Ambassadors of Peace, Mr. Buba Darboe highlighted the importance of the occasion, adding that anyone who wants to be a member of YAP must be trained for it.
?As you can see these young grandaunts, we have found them fit and capable to be peace educators,? he added.
According to him, youth ambassadors of peace is committed in ensuring that peace is cultivated in the minds of the young people who are the cream of any nation and for meaningful development to happen peace and stability should prevail.
For his part, Fabakary Kalleh, the Executive Secretary of YAP revealed that the organisation intends to create a situation where peace is inculcated in the minds and hearts of people.
According to him, "YAP plans for tomorrow taking into cognisance yesterday, the past decades when Africa has been painted with red blood of her sons."
"Quotation from various thinkers that every African living in Africa is a potential refugee, yes it was a situation that challenged us to turn the table, which can only be possible by the sons of Africa," he stressed.
He noted that they were convinced that with the instrument of peace, dialogue and understanding, tolerance and forgiveness, freedom and democracy they can lift society from that troubled part into the one, based on peace and development.
Kalleh further pointed out that the role of peace educator is to empower young people to become responsible people after providing them with alternative informed choices in dealing with conflict.
To him, conflict is inevitable and therefore there is a need to resolve conflict transformation without violence or war.
These grandaunts were well-trained in peace-building and among the modules trained includes gender perspective in peace-building, women in violence, roles of stakeholders in peace-building, violence against women, human rights, to mention but a few, says Kalleh.
"As peace-builders there is a greater need for people to live in a qualitative human relationship and YAP will ensure that peace is cultivated in the minds and hearts of people to ensure that people enjoy their human rights as human beings," he said.
Mr. Kalleh further disclosed that in month's time Youth Ambassadors of Peace (YAP) will be changed to Peace Ambassadors of the Gambia (PAG).
Edmund Foley, Legal Officer at the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa, said that for those who studied human rights, it began out of a struggle.
He noted that since then so many treaties and international agreements and constitutions emerged that seek to protect human rights.
"Human Rights are something that's owned by human beings and needs not confrontation every time," he added. He emphasised that as grandaunts they have tasked themselves to promote peace in the minds of people, and to ensure that every individual enjoy his /her human rights as human beings.
"I have charged you as educators to maintain the peace by preaching/teaching peace for people to use dialogue in solving conflicts," he stated.
For him, the challenges are the wider society is going to look at you (peace educators) as children, and as such you need to be bold and assertive.
