Human Rights
It is generally accepted that there are fundamental rights to which all humans should be entitled. In a world where the majority of people continue to live in poverty, are unable to access education or adequate health care or face the daily threat of violence, conflict and discrimination it is certain that these basic entitlements are far from being universally achieved.
Action partners participating in this action area group will come together to discuss a broad range of issues associated with human rights. Areas covered by partner action plans include - building civil society, the rights of young women and children, the rights of young gay and lesbian people, raising awareness about refugees and asylum seekers, poverty and child labour. The strategies employed partner in this group are as diverse as the issues - ranging from community education to projects aiming to use art as a medium through which to encourage social harmony.
Some Words from Area Group 1
The range of human rights concerns facing people around the globe is reflected in all the different issues we as young people are fighting for. Human rights are not just the focus of our action plans, they are an integral part of our everyday lives. Even though we come from many different communities, we share a common understanding and commitment to the universality and indivisibility of all human rights - civil, political, economic, social and cultural.
Our human rights group was made up of people working on myriad projects: from human rights education of women in Palestine and street working children in Pakistan, to the rights of young people with disabilities in Lebanon; from creating networks to support minority rights in Romania, to supporting youth at risk in Bolivia and Costa Rica.
We found similarities in our challenges and diversity in our approaches. We learnt that despite coming from very different communities and backgrounds, the dilemmas we confront are often quite alike. Our action partner who is supporting young lesbian, gay and transgender people in Scottish schools found inspiration in the stories of young people fighting for gay rights in the Philippines and reducing stigma and discrimination for sexual minorities in Fiji.
Our Mexican action partner swapped strategies with others from East Timor, Italy and Uganda on how to use international law and networks to bring to justice the perpetrators of rapes and murders of women. A young Australian woman making a documentary about the treatment of asylum seekers and an architect from Kenya shared creative ways of advocating for human rights.
Some Words from Area Group 2
We are a group of young people from around the globe with one important thing in common. We are all human rights defenders.
Working together during the Parliament has been a journey of discussing and learning from each other. We have shared experiences and knowledge about issues such as the trafficking of human beings in Laos, the detaining of refugees in Australia, and internally displaced people in Sri Lanka and Uganda. We discussed the need to take human rights into classrooms in Fiji and to increase young people's political participation in Bosnia - Herzegovina, South Africa and Germany. We recognised that in all of our communities, some of the rights of young people and others are being violated or are not being adequately met.
Promoting awareness about human rights through education and training has an important role in many of our action plans. We are committed to building the capacity of young people and empowering them to speak up for their human rights and the rights of others. We will use creative actions like theatre, hip-hop music, poster art, the media, and the creation of youth parliaments to achieve our goals. We are also committed to challenging the perpetrators of human rights abuses through the use of international, regional and national human rights laws.
We have revised our action plans from the perspectives brought by the Parliament and exchanged strategies for effective human rights work in our communities. We also shared sources of information, funding opportunities and support.
We shall continue to strive in solidarity to be heroes and heroines of social change.
