President Mahinda Rajapaksa today said that the minds of youth are extremely sensitive to influence and can be easily misguided. “This is the attraction for terrorist groups, to recruit youth combatants to their cadres often ending as cannon fodder, a traumatized and scarred generation, if they survived,” he said.

 Sri Lanka faced this phenomenon when challenged by a terrorist group, described by the FBI, as the most ruthless in the world, Rajapaksa said, addressing the opening ceremony of World Conference on Youth held at the Magam Ruhunupura International Convention Center this morning.

“In Sri Lanka, former youth combatants were treated as victims of terrorism and not perpetrators, and were all rehabilitated and reintegrated to society, for a better future.”

“We strongly believe that it is the society that can rehabilitate and reintegrate these misguided youth, rather than any State apparatus,” he said.

He stressed that Sri Lanka accords special attention to the needs and aspirations of its significant youth population, which comprises 26 per cent of a population of 20 million people.

Having experienced two violent youth insurgencies in 1971 and 1989 we are mindful of the causes that create violent discontent, Rajapaksa expressed.

More importantly, he said, Sri Lanka has recognized that economic and social development was most successful when young people became active stakeholders, in policy formulation and implementation.

He stated that the youth need to be given a sense of purpose to harness their drive and vigor towards meaningful activity.

“I remember how myself as a youth activist fought for the causes I believed in. How I, together with my colleagues, advocated and lobbied for youth priorities back then,” he reminisced.

The Sri Lankan President also invited the youth participants of the conference to join him on Twitter for discussions on Thursday.