Rethinking the nexus between youth, unemployment and conflict: Perspectives from Sri Lanka

This report calls for more emphasis on country-specific exploration of the links between youth unemployment and other socio-economic and political factors that can contribute to marginalisation and discrimination that engender conflict and violence at a more structural level.

The frequently made argument that ‘youth unemployment causes armed conflict’ lacks nuance, because it fails to reflect both the multiple factors feeding young people’s frustrations and grievances in conflict contexts; and the multiple barriers young people face in entering the job market.

It also glosses over the fact that ‘youth’ is a highly heterogeneous group, divided along class, gender, political, and geographic lines. More emphasis is needed on country-specific exploration of the links between youth unemployment and other socio-economic and political factors that can contribute to marginalisation and discrimination that engender conflict and violence at a more structural level. It would be problematic to develop policy responses across different countries without such an understanding.

This is true in Sri Lanka where several policy initiatives in the past have not led to significant reforms or changes in dynamics that exclude young people from both political and economic spheres in society. Although there have been governmental and donor community efforts to tackle the issue of youth unemployment, these have for the most part not had much impact, given weak conceptualisation of the different drivers of youth exclusion, lack of coherent policy-making, and weak implementation of policy recommendations.