Demobilized child soldiers, displaced young adults, young prostitutes or children living in the streets: how can we help young people in difficulties in the Great Lakes region? The question will be at the heart of an Awareness Day organized on September 21st by the NGO Assistance to the Integration of Demobilized Child Soldiers (AIDC) with the support of the UNESCO (room IV, from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm). This event will take place within the International Peace Day.


Children and young people from countries of the Great Lakes region, like Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda or Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), are badly suffering from the consequences of the conflicts that brought bloodshed to their countries these past years. In its 2011 issue on education during armed conflicts, the Global Monitoring Report on Education underlines that in countries hit by conflicts, there is a much less probability for children to go to school and a weaker probability for young adults to have access to literacy. Children and young people also represent some 45% of the refugees, of the displaced people and of the asylum-seekers.

This Day, organized within the frame of the UNESCO Culture of Peace Programme, aims to gather several field stakeholders in order to exchange experiences define leads of action based on educative approaches and foster the mobilization of the resources needed to put these actions in place. The Day will be structured around two roundtables, one meant to expose the situation of the young people in difficulties in the Great Lakes region, the other meant to set up a list of actions enabling their rehabilitation and their reinsertion.

Among the contributors, the panel will feature: Mrs. Lalla Aïcha BEN BARKA, Assistant Director-General of UNESCO for Africa; Ambassador Segun AKINSANYA, Director of the Institute for Security Studies in Addis Ababa; Prof. Jérôme MAKWALA, Coordinator of AIDC Liaison Office for the Great Lakes Region in Kinshasa (DRC); Mrs. Pierrette VU THI, Former Representative of UNICEF Office in Kinshasa, DRC; -Mr. David ATCHOARENA, Director of the Division for Teacher Development and Higher Education UNESCO; Mrs. Moufida GOUCHA, Chief of Human Security, Democracy and Philosophy Section, UNESCO; Mr. André LOKISSO, President of AIDC; Mr. Paul GOMIS, Division for Teacher Development and Higher Education (DIR/ED/THE), UNESCO; Mrs. Monique KANDE, Director-General of Regional Research and Documentation Centre for Women Gender and Peace-building in the Great Lakes Region, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.