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Youth representatives from 27 nations joined more than 1,000 human rights advocates, religious leaders, governmental officials and artists at the 5th Annual International Human Rights Summit in New York this last weekend.
Sponsored by Youth for Human Rights International (YHRI) and the Human Rights Department of the Church of Scientology International, the summit was a packed series of events all aimed at getting the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights actually applied by nations across the world - and the celebration of the 60th Anniversary of its adoption.
"There are over 300,000 children involved in armed conflicts as child soldiers in African and other countries. There are 800,000 children trafficked across borders every year in an international sex slave trade that is one of the most lucrative black markets in the world. You only have to read the news to see the need for the Declaration to be enforced", said Tracie Morrow, the Human Rights Youth Coordinator of the Church of Scientology International.
The summit took place over the weekend in UN Conference Room #1. A standing-room-only crowd learned first hand what can be done to end human rights abuses and bring about fairness and justice.
Academy Award nominated actress and human rights advocate Anne Archer moderated a panel of proven human rights activists. Jack Healey, former President of Amnesty International USA, told the youth delegates that they should have no patience with a government that fails to put into practice the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and should even get the declaration printed inside passports.
Mr. Ford Roosevelt, the grandson of the primary architect of the Universal Declaration, Eleanor Roosevelt, explained how the declaration resulted from Mrs. Roosevelts appreciation and respect for the differences amongst people and the insistence on mutual respect in human relations.
The efforts of Youth for Human Rights International were roundly applauded by Ambassador Nathaniel Barnes of the Mission of Liberia to the United Nations and strongly supported by Ms. Lila Ratsifandrihamanana the Ambassador and Permanent Observer Mission of the African Union to the UN, both co-sponsors and members of this same influential panel.
The events that followed included a star-studded awards dinner, educational workshops, and in an Interfaith Service featuring speakers across the religious spectrum. On the eve of the opening of the Annual United Nations General Assembly, the delegates are now returning to their home countries to activate their plans to educate and activate others on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Youth for Human Rights International was founded in 2001, when a survey found that over 90 percent of people had not even heard of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Mary Shuttleworth, lifelong educator and President of YHRI, decided to fill this void by teaching youth all over the world regardless of their social standing the text and rights inherent in the Universal Declaration. With the assistance of the Church of Scientology International Human Rights Department, she has personally toured through 70 countries and met with countless thousands of youths, taking it upon herself to do what the UN has endeavored to do, namely to make their charter known and implemented.
"These youth are daily making the Universal Declaration of Human Rights a living document and so building a more humane world," said Shuttleworth. "If we care about our youth now, and get them to see that they can make a difference, it means everything to our future."
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