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Changemakers educating the young to promote their rights
20 December 2024
“Don’t be afraid to raise your voice and to say what you think. In a world full of deception, telling truth is a revolutionary act. Tell your truth. Tell how you’re living, tell how it’s like to be you,” said Dejana Stosic.
Stosic, a human rights educator and peace activist from Serbia, works to combat gender-based violence, including by educating girls and young women on sexual and reproductive rights. In 2021, she created a Twitter hashtag #NisamPrijavila (#IdidntReport), where she explained why she didn’t report sexual violence. Within three days, more than 21,000 women used the hashtag to tell their own stories about the violence they survived but never reported.
Stosic was speaking at a youth dialogue at the Palais des Nations in Geneva organized by UN Human Rights in partnership with UNESCO, Amnesty International and Soka Gakkai International on 10 December 2024, Human Rights Day. These 21,000 women, she said, were 21,000 reasons why gender-based violence should end.
“Shame has to switch sides… the human rights abuser should be in shame, not the victim,” Stosic added.
The event, entitled “Our Rights, Our Future. Right Now” through Human Rights Education For, With and By Youth, brought together over 150 young participants from universities, the Scout movement, youth networks and organizations, as well as representatives of permanent missions, for a two-hour dialogue on human rights from the perspective of young people and the role of human rights education in empowering youth to fulfil their role as local and global citizens, take action and uphold their human rights and those of others.
Co- facilitating with Stosic was another young human rights educator, Soufiane Hennani, both featured in Changemakers: Stories of Young Human Rights Educators, a multimedia resource co-produced by UN Human Rights, Amnesty International and Soka Gakkai International to showcase stories of how human rights and human rights education have changed young people’s lives, inspiring them to take action for human rights in their communities through human rights education.
Soufiane Hennani and Dejana Stosic, foreground, addressing young people at the youth dialogue on Human Rights Day, 10 December 2024. © Geneva Academy
“We must not be ashamed of defending human rights. Today, some people don’t believe in human rights, and they are not ashamed of expressing that. We have to do the same, but to promote human rights,” Hennani said. “It is our duty as youth to take the floor, express ourselves, and to be proud that we are defending gender equality and social justice more generally.”
Hennani, an activist for gender equality in Morocco, created a podcast in 2020 that aims to rethink and promote positive masculinities.
Responding to the many comments and questions from the young audience, and speaking from their personal experience, Stosic and Hennani reflected on how they have been able to stay motivated as human rights educators and activists, despite the obstacles they face and even threats they have received, and discussed the need to counteract anti-human rights movements, including through human rights education. They also shared suggestions on how to use social media and digital tools to engage audiences on human rights issues and to turn social media engagement into concrete action for human rights.
The dialogue also coincided with the launch by the UN Human Rights Council of the fifth phase (2025-2029) of the World Programme for Human Rights Education, dedicated to children and youth, with a focus on three thematic areas: digital technologies and human rights, gender equality, and environment and climate change.
“It’s important to celebrate our fights [for human rights]. This gives us visibility and encourages others to carry out the same work we are doing, and to lead,” Hennani said. “Oppression does come to an end, and we can influence that.”
