A/HRC/34/46 also stressed the need to involve women and young people in all peace negotiations, and warned against transforming youth into “just another advocacy group within the neo-liberal framework of identity politics”. 49. Ms. Sharief referred to her experience of a society that had turned to violence. She stressed the importance of the international community’s support in such environments and highlighted the impact of such support on power structures on the ground. She invited participants to reflect on some questions to be asked when such support was provided: who were the recipients of international support? Who was entitled to take part in peace negotiations? Who was recognized as an important player on the ground and whose security was prioritized? Ms. Sharief welcomed the adoption of Security Council resolution 2250 (2015) and explained that, although the Council explicitly asked for the inclusion of youth in peacebuilding processes, the question remained how to make the resolution relevant to local communities. Drawing from her experience, including with the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security in Libya, she explained that one of the main challenges in translating such resolutions into reality at the local level was that they were difficult for local communities to understand. What was needed was to explain the world to the United Nations, not to explain the United Nations to the world. Ms. Sharief also referred to a friend who had been killed by an armed group in Libya because of his work in defending youth human rights, and asked participants to join her in paying tribute to the human rights defender by standing up and promising never to remain silent and to speak up for human rights. 50. Ms. Ekomo-Soignet offered some insights into the situation of youth participation in the peace process in the Central African Republic. She stressed that the notion of human rights did not necessarily resonate with young people, who sought specific and tangible solutions for difficulties in their daily lives and were often not familiar with human rights instruments. Small initiatives had the potential to inspire other young people to engage and sensitize their communities, local leaders and international actors to seek practical and durable solutions. She regretted the focus on sensational stories and recommended adopting a bottom-up approach to making human rights more relevant. She provided an example from the largest internally displaced person camp in her country, where young people succeeded in regaining freedom of movement where international organizations had failed, simply because youth belonging to the Muslim community and Christian youth wanted to play football together. She explained how social cohesion had been restored, and that Christian children were able to return safely to schools close to the Muslim neighbourhood and women to the local market, thereby having a concrete impact on their human rights. She asked young leaders to mobilize and work with the 75 per cent of young people in the Central African Republic who were currently affected by armed conflict and to think of actions that could have a real impact at the local level. Turning to the participation of youth in peace negotiations and peace processes, she regretted the lack of structured and systematic participation by young people, particularly those most marginalized and living in rural areas, in peace initiatives at all levels. 51. Participants discussed the importance of youth taking the Sustainable Development Goals to the grass-roots level and translating them into concrete achievements. In that regard, participants provided examples of successful activities that might be replicated in various country situations, including partnering with the business sector, to champion the implementation of the Goals. The importance for youth organizations to assess the convergence of the Sustainable Development Goal targets with existing State initiatives, policies and programmes and to secure the Government’s support for the implementation of youth-led projects, including those aimed at ensuring that youth needs and expectations were effectively met, was also emphasized. 13