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13 May, 2026Young trade unionists across the Middle East and North Africa(MENA) regions have formally established the MENA regional youth committee, marking a significant step forward in building youth leadership within the industrial trade union movement.
The committee was founded following ten working sessions held remotely between February and May 2026. These sessions brought together representatives of the MENA youth network, affiliate leaders from across the region and members of IndustriALL secretariat and Regional Executive Committee. On 5 May 2026, the committee elected its founding leadership. There are eight members, including at least four women, drawn equally from MENA.
The committee’s establishment builds on more than a decade of youth organizing in the region. Since 2014, IndustriALL has worked with MENA affiliates to build the capacity of young workers. It established the MENA youth network and a series of national youth networks. In 2016, they held the region’s first youth conference. They launched a five-year empowerment project between 2018 and 2022.
The move from network to formal committee marks a deliberate shift in ambition from participation to leadership. The goal is to move away from tokenistic youth inclusion toward youth readiness. It aims to equip young workers in industrial sectors, multinational companies and global supply chains to genuinely influence decision-making.
Young workers in the MENA region face a complex set of pressures: precarious employment, high unemployment, accelerating digital and climate transformations, industrial automation and the challenges of the energy transition. All this takes place against a backdrop of limited youth representation in trade union structures.
The IndustriALL 4th Congress, held in Sydney in November 2025, created new institutional space for youth leadership. The Congress adopted statutory amendments to strengthen youth integration across IndustriALL governing bodies. It set a target of 30 per cent youth representation at all levels and activities. Additionally, it provided for the establishment of a global youth committee with regional committees feeding into it. The MENA committee’s two co-chairs automatically become members of that global body.
The committee is co-chaired by Sihame Elmazini of Morocco, youth and women’s coordinator at the Syndicat Nationale des Industries de la Métallurgie et Electromécanique (SNIME-CDT). Its other co-chair is Amjad Shehab of Iraq, president of the Basra Branch of the Iraqi General Federation of Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Unions (IGFOGPU).
The committee’s mandate includes strengthening union organizing among young workers. It also includes supporting affiliates to establish their own internal youth structures and developing training and mentoring strategies that keep pace with technological change and the shifting demands of the labour market.
The committee is not conceived as a standalone youth space but as a pathway into the wider movement. It aims to build a generation of young trade unionists capable of taking on leadership roles at local, national, regional and international levels. Moreover, it seeks to ensure intergenerational continuity within trade union work.
“Experience has shown that, despite the challenges, young trade unionists in the region are capable of taking on responsibility. The regional youth committee is a new initiative designed to support young people’s causes and utilize their energy and enthusiasm in trade union work,”
says Ahmed Kamel IndustriALL MENA regional secretary.
Organizing for a just future
The establishment of the MENA regional youth committee reflects IndustriALL’s broader commitment, affirmed at the 4thCongress, to the systematic integration of young people within its governing bodies and day-to-day activities. Young workers are not simply the future of the labour movement. Instead, they are active agents of change within it today.
By involving young people, the movement ensures the continuity of trade union work. Additionally, it builds a stronger, more socially just future for workers across the region.
“This committee is about more than representation. It is about building a generation of young workers who are equipped, confident and ready to lead. IndustriALL is committed to ensuring that young trade unionists in the MENA region have the structure and support to drive real change in their workplaces, their unions and across the movement,”
says Christina Olivier IndustriALL assistant general secretary.