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Bangkok, Thailand. Ministry of Education rep speaks at a human rights event at a local school.
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The value and importance of honoring and applying human rights, by both governments and individuals, cannot be understated. Yet very little education in this field is concentrated on the future, and on those who will need it most: our children.
To correct this omission, Scientologist and educator Mary Shuttleworth, in coordination with the Church of Scientology International’s Human Rights Department, founded Youth for Human Rights International (YHRI) in August 2001. YHRI’s mission is to teach youth around the globe about human rights, helping them to become valuable advocates for tolerance and peace.
Mary Shuttleworth and publisher Mr. R.K. Jain introduce the head of a boys home in India to What are Human Rights?
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In less than three years, YHRI has established activities in 26 countries all over the world, from Mexico to the United States to Sweden. Many human rights advocates, legislators, teachers, police and humanitarians now work closely with YHRI, encouraging young people to learn about, appreciate and even champion the cause of human rights.
Realizing that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights had to be made available in a form understandable to the young, in March 2002 YHRI released What are Human Rights? especially for children.
A secondary school in India is introduced to What are Human Rights?
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Instantly popular with teachers, government officials, community and religious leaders, not to mention the children themselves, the work has already been translated into 19 languages: Arabic, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, Farsi, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish. Translations into additional languages are in progress.
In October 2003, the head of UNESCO’s New York office took delivery of 2,000 copies of What are Human Rights? for UNESCO-affiliated schools to foster understanding of human rights among the young.
Rand Afrikaans University in South Africa. Students are holding YHRI�s educational fliers on AIDS prevention.
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In Argentina, the mayor of the city of Moron chaired the presentation of the winners of a national art contest for children that YHRI organized on the subject of human rights. Impressed by the children’s eagerness to learn the subject, the mayor placed YHRI’s educational materials in the city’s ninety schools and added the teaching of human rights to the school’s curriculum.
In March 2003, the first South African chapter of YHRI opened in Durban at a ceremony presided over by the city’s deputy mayor. YHRI’s educational work in Africa now includes teaching children, as well as adults, about the causes and prevention of HIV/AIDS.
Teachers and pupils at a school complex in Accra, Ghana.
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YHRI has produced an easy-to-understand handout that defines HIV/AIDS, disposes of common misconceptions about it, explains how infection occurs and sets out what each person can do to minimize the risk — vital information on a continent socially, economically and humanly devastated by an AIDS epidemic.
With the expansion of YHRI and its message that human rights should be learned when still young has come a demand for more information from all over the world. To fill this need, in February 2004, YHRI representatives set out on a 45,000 mile World Educational Tour.
Conalep High School, Mexico city, the final stop of the tour.
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In the space of five weeks, YHRI delegates traveled to both well-populated and far-flung locations, including Tokyo; Bangkok, Thailand; Accra, Ghana; Georgetown, Guyana (South America); and Mexico City to increase the understanding of human rights among youth and to found new YHRI chapters.
Along the way, YHRI representatives met with senior government officials, visited local towns and villages, and distributed to both parents and children copies of What are Human Rights? and YHRI’s educational flier on AIDS. At each stop, they asked the children to write short accounts of what they understood of human rights and why these are so precious.
Part of the launch of YHRI in Durban, South Africa, March 2003.
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What resulted from this tour was a veritable wave of interest in human rights education for the young. As Elizabeth A. Ohene, the Ghanaian Minister of State, Tertiary Education, wrote, “You have certainly managed to break down the two difficult subjects of human rights and AIDS in the booklet
What are Human Rights? and the flyer entitled ‘Protect Yourself [and Others] from a Sickness Called AIDS’ into child-friendly tracts.”
The teaching of human rights principles must form a vital part of any effort to combat intolerance and ignorance if we are to prevail in establishing a stable, peaceful and secure future for our children.
