South Africa

South Africa was the perfect final stop for the 2009 World Tour. The Youth for Human Rights South Africa chapter has been active for years and has done some wonderful work to promote human rights education in South Africa. It was a pleasure to work with them and to help forward their goal of bringing human rights education to the youth of South Africa.

YHRI South Africa has worked with many schools to promote the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in at least one school they’ve reached, the children recite their thirty human rights every morning before class! They have also worked with arts groups and have emphasized making human rights education fun. At a Youth for Human Rights event organized at the Gauteng Province Legislature during our stay, a troupe of young gumboot dancers and a local drama group performed beautifully. It was wonderful to see the Youth for Human Rights message communicated through the arts so effectively.

The event featured some powerful speakers who discussed human rights in South Africa, Zimbabwe and beyond, illustrating the urgent need for human rights education. Dr. Mary Shuttleworth (Youth for Human Rights President and Founder) also gave a powerful speech and the audience of students, dignitaries and community leaders, was clearly very impressed and positively impacted by the event.

All in all, a lot was accomplished in South Africa and the World Tour stop served as a great boost to the local Youth for Human Rights chapter. Only fifteen years into democratic rule, South Africa is still rife with human rights abuses, so the work of YHRI South Africa is especially important. We look forward to seeing them grow and grow as they work to reach all the youth of South Africa!

Check out a few photos below from the South Africa tour stop, as well as a video of the gumboot dancers from the YHRI event.