Youth Lab: Empowering Youth through Intersectional Conflict Mediation with a Focus on Religion:
October 28 – November 4, 2023 in Osnabrück, Germany

In commemoration of the 375th anniversary of the Peace of Westphalia, the City of Osnabrück and GDL members Elsa Marie D’Silva, Nurana Mammadova, Theresa Carrington, Ghada Zribi and Fabrice Muchiga, hosted the Youth Lab 2023 in Osnabrück to amplify the voices of young people and offer them a platform for constructive dialogue.

Our world faces a myriad of challenges that demand innovative solutions: hybrid warfare, democratic deficiencies, religious conflicts, mass migration, territorial divisions, and the pressing climate crisis, among others. These issues have already profoundly affected countless individuals across the globe.

Within the framework of the newly defined focus for the next two years of the GDL, the Lab fostered spaces of encounter, with a special emphasis on the perspectives of young people. How might young people tackle present-day conflicts? What innovative strategies can the conceive? And how can a more peaceful future be collectively shaped?

The 2023 Youth Lab explored the vital role religions play in intersectional conflict mediation. By emphasising this aspect, participants delved deeper into the complex dynamics of religious conflicts and explored avenues for peaceful resolutions. This unique projects brought together young people from around the world alongside subject matter experts and it thereby acknowledged and valued young participants as experts whose insights and ideas deserve to be heard and respected. The new networks that emerged promise to have a lasting impact on future endeavors.

If you want to find out more about the 2023 Youth Lab you can take a look at the concept note here.

Photo credit: ©Angela von Brill