December 10, 2018: Seventy years of human rights
On a day like today, exactly 70 years ago, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to proclaim that all human beings have the same rights regardless of race, color, religion, gender, language, political opinions, origin or any other particular condition. Since then, December 10 is remembered as the International Day of Human Rights.
To celebrate this important anniversary, we will learn the experience of young Marists who have traveled to New York and Geneva to participate in United Nations events that promote human rights.
Empower those who have no voice
“We will favor opportunities for our partners to share, participate in decision-making and, at the same time, invite children and youth to be leaders in this area.” More than ten years ago, the Marist Mission Assembly of Mendes (Brazil, 2007) made this appeal. Invitation that repeats the XXII General Chapter (Colombia, 2017) when it affirms that we believe “in the promotion, protection and defense of the rights of children and young people, and in their empowerment as agents of transformation.”
Without a doubt, being leaders, agents of transformation or defenders of human rights is a challenge that begins in the daily life of Marist children and young people. However, your voice should be heard even at the highest levels of international discussion and decision.
The High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) is the United Nations main platform to monitor and review the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that mark the global agenda between 2015 and 2030. Sofía Toro (Chile) in 2017 and Mariana Díaz and Nadia Lomeli (Mexico) in 2018 traveled to New York to represent in this forum thousands of young Marists from Latin America who since 2013 have been involved in the discussion about SDGs.
Likewise, Camila Álvarez (Chile), Gabriel dos Santos and Pedro Gouvea (Brazil) represented in Geneva the 1,700 Marist children and youths from 13 countries – from Australia to Canada – who participated in the consultations led by the Committee on the Rights of the Child of the Nations United. On September 28, 2018, Day of General Discussion (DGD) was held to discuss the role of children as human rights defenders.
Let us know how was their experience (download PDF).