Opening Remarks Antje Grawe, UN Resident Coordinator in the Kyrgyz Republic Launch of Yntymak Week 2026

Esteemed representatives of the National Agency for Religious Affairs and Interethnic Relations,
Dear Rector Esenalieva,
Dear colleagues, dear young people and women peacebuilders,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure to join you for the opening of Yntymak Week 2026.

It is particularly fitting that we begin today, on the International Day of Peace. This year, the United Nations marks the Day under the theme “Invest in Peace – For Everyone, Everywhere, Every Day.”

That message could hardly be more timely.

We meet at a moment of profound pressure on international peace and security. Conflicts are proliferating, geopolitical divisions are deepening, international law and human rights are under pressure, and climate change is creating new sources of instability.

At such a time, this year’s message reminds us of something fundamental: peace is not something made only by governments, diplomats or international organizations. Peace is everybody’s responsibility.

Governments and institutions have a particular responsibility to create the conditions in which peace can flourish: upholding rights and the rule of law, ensuring participation, addressing grievances, and providing peaceful ways to resolve disagreements.

But ultimately, peace has to be built and sustained by people — in our communities, schools, workplaces, families and neighbourhoods. It is shaped by how we deal with differences, how we treat one another, and whether we choose dialogue over confrontation and violence.

This is why this year’s Yntymak Week theme — “Youth and Women in the Development of Local Communities and Peacebuilding” — resonates so strongly with the message of this International Day of Peace. It puts the focus precisely where “everyone, everywhere, every day” takes on practical meaning: on people and communities, and particularly on the role of women and young people in building and sustaining peace.

And it does so across four areas that matter directly to people’s lives: responsive and effective governance; social cohesion and solidarity; gender equality and women’s empowerment; and natural-resource management and climate adaptation.

For women and young people, meaningful participation must mean more than being present. It means having a genuine opportunity to shape decisions affecting their communities and their future.

And peaceful conflict resolution must begin early and close to home. Too many children and young people experience violence in their everyday lives. UNICEF data show that 65 per cent of children in Kyrgyzstan experience violent discipline at home. According to the latest PISA study, 44 per cent of 15-year-olds reported experiencing at least one form of bullying, with 18 per cent experiencing bullying several times a month or more.

These figures remind us that a culture of peace begins with how children and young people learn to deal with differences, resolve disagreements without violence, respect others — and experience that same respect themselves.

Women and young people are already contributing to this as community leaders, educators, entrepreneurs, organizers and peacebuilders. Giving them the space and opportunity to lead makes peace more inclusive and sustainable.

Dear colleagues,

Central Asia itself offers an important example of what peaceful conflict resolution can achieve.

The historic Kyrgyz-Tajik border treaty signed in March 2025 opened a new chapter after years in which border communities had experienced tension, separation and violence.

This experience has since travelled beyond the region. In May, the UN General Assembly adopted without a vote the resolution on the peaceful settlement of border disputes, brought forward by Kyrgyzstan together with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Its message is clear: even highly sensitive disputes can and should be addressed through dialogue and negotiation, in accordance with the UN Charter and international law.

But an agreement between states is only the beginning. Peace becomes sustainable when people make it real — when relationships are restored, borders reconnect rather than divide communities, people cooperate and trade again, and shared resources are managed peacefully.

I therefore particularly like that Yntymak Week itself is moving across the region — from Bishkek to Osh and Kara-Suu, and then across the border to Khujand. In a small but meaningful way, its geography reflects the journey the region itself is making: from resolving borders between states to strengthening relationships between people.

This experience also has wider significance as Kyrgyzstan prepares to take its seat on the United Nations Security Council in 2027–2028.

Membership brings both opportunity and responsibility: to uphold the UN Charter and international law, promote prevention and the peaceful settlement of disputes, and help find common ground at a time of deep geopolitical division.

Kyrgyzstan brings relevant experience to that table — including sixteen years of partnership with the UN Peacebuilding Fund on social cohesion, inclusive governance, women’s and youth leadership and cross-border confidence-building.

Dear friends,

As we mark the International Day of Peace, I hope that Yntymak Week will help carry this experience forward — from agreements between states to peace between communities, and from peace as an aspiration to something each of us helps build every day.

I thank the National Agency for Religious Affairs and Interethnic Relations, the Peacebuilding Hub, Ala-Too International University, our partners from neighbouring countries, the United Nations family and everyone who has made this Yntymak Week possible.

I wish you open, thoughtful and productive discussions.

Thank you.