Countdown to Human Rights Day
13-year-old Francisco Vera has been advocating for climate justice since he was 9 years old.
Issued by
OHCHR
Deadline
01 September 2023
This year, the world commemorates the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) – a miraculous text adopted by the United Nations. The Human Rights 75 initiative, led by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recalls the consensus imagined by the UDHR, looks to the future, and seeks to bolster the human rights ecosystem built over the past decades.
The interconnecting challenges facing the world, including inequalities, conflicts, insecurity, as well as climate change, have a significant impact on the human rights of youth. At the same time, young people are significantly engaged on several of these issues, fighting for their human rights and the future of the planet.
It is essential that the Human Rights 75 initiative engage youth in a meaningful way to ensure that their views, experiences, and recommendations inform the discussion concerning their rights and their future. For that reason, engagement of youth is identified as a key component of the initiative. To ensure such engagement, OHCHR has established a Youth Advisory Group (YAG) that is involved in the design, implementation, and follow-up of Human Rights 75 initiative, including the organization of a Global Youth Consultation and development of a Human Rights 75 Youth Declaration, which will be presented at the High-level event in December.
OHCHR is soliciting views from youth-led and youth-focused organizations and institutions on the present and future of human rights, which, together with the outcomes of the Global Youth Consultation, will inform the development of the Human Rights 75 Youth Declaration.
Youth-led and youth-focused organizations and institutions are asked to provide their views on the following questions:
As a general rule, submissions will be made available on OHCHR website. Please indicate if you do not wish OHCHR to make your submissions available on the website.