Middle East youth jobs crisis ‘lures recruits to extremism’

'When extremism is the best paying job in town you have a big problem,' a special meeting of the World Economic Forum in Istanbul heard.

ISTANBUL // Youth unemployment is spurring the spread of violent extremism across the region, a special meeting of the World Economic Forum heard yesterday.

Regional business and political leaders met here amid a backdrop of escalating military action in neighbouring Syria and Iraq.

“When extremism is the best paying job in town you have a big problem,” Tarek Sultan Al Essa, the chief executive of Agility, told the special meeting on unlocking resources for regional development.

“It is important that people have something to lose from extremism. No amount of politics can overcome a lack of opportunity. If we are not able to address that issue we are going to be responsible for creating the largest talent pool for extremism.”

The Middle East and North Africa region needs to create more than 100 million new jobs by 2020, according to World Bank estimates.

But a focus on finding elusive political solutions rather than grasping economic opportunities across conflict zones is hindering progress, the meeting heard.

“The key lesson in the Middle East region is that the youth bulge we face and which everyone sees as a crisis is actually a huge opportunity. If we can find meaningful employment and engage with this population it will drive growth,” said Majid Jafar, the chief executive of Crescent Petroleum

More than 27 per cent of young people in the Middle East are unemployed according to the International Labour Organization – twice the global average. That is projected to grow to more than 28 per cent by the end of this year and to more than 29 per cent by 2018.

Unemployment among the youth has already reached 25 per cent in Egypt, according to the ILO and is at more than 22 per cent in Algeria and Lebanon.

Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, also this week raised unemployment as one of the root causes for the emergence of militant groups in the region.

“Our region is home to more than 200 million young people. We have the opportunity to inspire them with hope and to direct their energies toward improving their lives and the lives of those around them. If we fail, we will abandon them to emptiness, unemployment and the malicious ideologies of terrorism,” he said.

The Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened the Istanbul meeting on Sunday with a call to train and equip groups in both Syria and Iran.

“Air strikes are not enough. There must be a ground dimension with the Iraqi army and the Pashmerga to the fore. If other countries can support that effort, so much the better,” he said.

Yesterday’s WEF Istanbul meeting wrapped up as reports emerged of at least two mortar rounds landing in Turkey amid Islamic State shelling of the Kurdish-held town of Kobani in northern Syria.

The rapid spread of militants in northern Syria has sparked a fresh exodus of Syrian Kurds to Turkey, which is already home to about 1.5 million refugees.