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The American mediator who negotiated the peace deal in Northern Ireland has called on young people to ensure political progress is not lost.<\/p>\n
Senator George Mitchell said he was “alarmed” by the number of people still leaving to live elsewhere.<\/p>\n
Speaking to an audience at Queen’s University Belfast, including many teenagers and students, he encouraged them to work to cement peace.<\/p>\n
Senator Mitchell is now aged 91 and has suffered ill health in recent years. His speech was entitled “passing the torch”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
He said: “Alarmingly, we have a ‘brain drain’ of young people leaving Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
“All of this has meant that a sense of fear and tribalism still remains in certain quarters. This fear and tribalism can instil rigidity, and that rigidity can create a climate of coldness and fear. And the bitter chill of that reality is that it could possibly cause an unforeseen snap.<\/p>\n
“We simply cannot \u2013 ever \u2013 allow a return to the violence that other generations have witnessed.”<\/p>\n
It was 27 years ago this month that Senator Mitchell chaired the Stormont talks that led to the Good Friday Agreement. <\/p>\n
The 1998 peace deal ended the so-called Troubles during which more than 3,000 people were killed.<\/p>\n
Addressing the 700-strong audience at Queen’s, the veteran American politician made a call for action.<\/p>\n
He said: “You, the young people of this island, are needed here in order to sustain this ongoing peace.<\/p>\n
“Do not let your truths and your dreams leave when there is so much to be done at home.<\/p>\n
Senator Mitchell said: “I am here today to ask you to take the job of the future seriously. Do not let us down. Listen, consider, move forward.<\/p>\n
“I make this call to teachers, to artists, to leaders, to workers, to businesses, to non-profits, to community organisations, to civil servants, but most of all to our young people – you are the leaders and the lightning rods of tomorrow.<\/p>\n
“I am well aware that there are other concerns that your generation, and the following generations, will encounter \u2013 not least the problems of climate change, global migration and issues of identity.<\/p>\n
“But these issues will be easier to confront when there is peace on the ground.”<\/p>\n
Senator Mitchell concluded: “We pass the torch to you.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n