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UNHCR Emergency Supply Officer helps load airdropped items onto Red Cross trucks © UNHCR/B.Bannon
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Community Officer visits IDPs in Timor-Leste © UN Photo/Martine Perret
Demining teams work to clear landmines in Lipovac, Croatia © UN Photo/Eric Kanalstein
What's this about?
The YPN's new ‘Working for Peace’ initiative seeks to foster a wider understanding of the realities and complexities of living and working in a conflict-affected country. It does this by giving a platform to young professionals working around the world to help bring about peace, through speaker events, film screenings, interviews, blogs and other website resources.
We will shortly be adding much more material to this site - including profiles of people working for peace and a portal for blogs related to conflict zones.
'I work for peace': the YPN interview
Hatem Shurrab in the Gaza strip
YPN speaks to Hatem Shurrab, a public relations officer in the Palestine office of Islamic Relief, about what it’s actually like to live and work in a conflict situation.
Lecturer at the University of Ulster
YPN speaks to a lecturer at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland who specalises in ethnic conflict.
Past events
YPN screening of 'Gaza: Reign of the Rockets'
On 15 July YPN's 'Working for Peace' initiative held a screening of 'Gaza: Reign of the Rockets' at Channel 4’s London studios. The film, part of Channel 4’s acclaimed Unreported World series, depicts the continuing conflict in the Gaza Strip. Travelling across Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, the film’s makers explore whether Hamas are achieving their aim of being a credible government despite Israeli assaults, a siege on Gaza, international isolation, and virtual civil war.
The screening was followed by a discussion with the film's director, Ed Watts; Yossi Mekelberg, Associate Fellow of the Middle East Programme at Chatham House and Head of International Relations at Regent's College; Darrin Waller, former Executive Director of Medical Aid for Palestinians; and Tim Llewellyn, former Middle East correspondent for the BBC.
YPN screening of 'Congo: Children of the Genocide'
On 22 April, the YPN hosted a screening of 'Congo: Children of the Genocide' - a film about the ongoing violence in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The film traces the conflict's origins back to the international community's flawed response to the 1994 Rwandan genocide and highlights the implications for future interventions aimed at preventing mass civilian killings.
Afterwards there was a panel discussion featuring Sam Kiley, the film's presenter; Mark Lancaster MP, Shadow Minister for International Development; and, Marie-Claire Faray-Kele, an active campaigner for peace and women’s rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
YPN screening of 'The Devil Came on Horseback'
On UN Day, 24 October, the YPN held a screening and discussion at the Frontline Club of 'The Devil Came on Horseback', a fascinating and moving film about one man’s attempt to document a genocide and secure international intervention to stop it.
The event also featured a panel discussion with one of the film's makers and a leading campaigner on Darfur and other crises.