Canada's minister of national defence and the president of the Toronto Raptors will join retired Lieutenant-General Rom茅o Dallaire and others passionate about preventing the recruitment and use of children in violence in a global symposium online next week.
Hosted by the at Dalhousie, the second-annual (K4P) symposium will foster dialogue around themes critical to centering children in the global peace agenda.
The conference begins next Monday (Sept. 28), a week following the International Day of Peace 鈥� which the Dallaire Institute marked with a around the urgent need for what it calls a Children鈥檚 Rights Upfront approach to peace that sees the world through the perspective of children鈥檚 needs and priorities.
"Children鈥檚 protection from violence and war must be our priority if we are to break cycles of violence and achieve peace and security," reads the statement. "This requires concerted efforts to build collaboration and effective action towards global peace."
The , Canada's national defence minister, will address symposium attendees to kick off the conference next week, with expert panels following daily through to Friday (Oct.2).
Topics to be explored at this year鈥檚 symposium include the role of women in shaping the peace and security agenda and the importance of early warning and its connections to preventing the recruitment of children as soldiers.
First launched last year, the symposium centres around the importance of knowledge sharing in building action-oriented solutions to combat child soldiery.
鈥淯nderstanding better how we can work together to share knowledge and prioritize the protection of children is at the core of building a sustainable pathway to peace,鈥� says (shown left), executive director of the Dallaire Institute, which rebranded from its earlier name The Rom茅o Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative earlier this year as it strengthens its work in research, advocacy and programming with partners around the world.
Following Minister Sajjan鈥檚 address Monday, Dr. Whitman will moderate an opening dialogue featuring General Dallaire as well as , United Nations Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, and (shown below), the president and founder of the 鈥� a non-profit that uses basketball as an outreach activity to educate and enrich the lives of youth across of Africa.
See the full conference schedule below:
Symposium Launch - Monday, September 28
Children, Peace and Security - Tuesday, September 29
Women, Peace and Security - Wednesday, September 30
Recruitment Prevention - Thursday, October 1
Early Warning to Early Action - Friday, October 2
The and open to the public. You can .
Later this fall, the Dallaire Institute will also be celebrating its 10th anniversary as an organization with a virtual event on November 5. .
Further reading: (Toronto Star, Sept. 21)