Educating Future Leaders in Nepal on the Critical Issue of Human Rights

Press Release • Jan 27, 2016

Spearheading human rights awareness throughout their country and South Asia, the Kathmandu chapter of Youth for Human Rights International used this year's International Human Rights Day to increase awareness of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Kathmandu, Nepal, January 27, 2016 (Newswire.com) - What are human rights and how do they impact our lives? Volunteers of the Youth for Human Rights (YHR) chapter of Kathmandu, Nepal, organized activities to answer that question, bringing human rights to life for the youth of their city in commemoration of International Human Rights Day.

It began with an art competition organized in local schools where students competed created drawings depicting how human rights affect their daily lives.

After studying the booklet What Are Human Rights? that presents all 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in images and language young people can relate to and understand, they created artwork on the theme: “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are” to bring home the point that no matter your circumstances, you can defend your rights and the rights of others.

YHR also organized Kathmandu’s leg of the Youth for Human Rights Human International Walk for Human Rights. Students not only raised awareness of human rights in their city, they also knew they were part of a worldwide movement in which volunteers from across Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and throughout the Americas carried out International Human
Rights Day walks in their cities.

With more than a thousand youth volunteers in cities and villages throughout the country, the Nepal Chapter of Youth for Human Rights has been raising awareness of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for the past six years. Kathmandu hosted the 3rd Annual Youth for Human Rights South Asia Summit in April 2015, with Youth Delegates and Ambassador attending from throughout South Asia: India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Afghanistan. Other countries that sent delegates to the Summit included Taiwan, Japan, Switzerland, the UK and the U.S.A.

Youth for Human Rights is an education initiative supported by the Church of Scientology. Scientologists on six continents partner with government agencies and nongovernmental organizations to bring about broad-scale awareness and implementation of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the world’s premier human rights document.