As International Human Rights Day draws closer on December 10th, so does our summative event on December 11th. The theme for 2020 is to “Recover Better – Stand Up For Human Rights.”
The year 2020 could be characterized by the global fight against COVID-19, and as the year is closing, it is important to direct efforts towards recovering from the pandemic. Through their theme, the UN is encouraging individuals everywhere to stand up for progressive human rights campaigns. Along with the rest of the globe, we hope that young adults will be pursuing their own youth-empowered solutions for issues in their communities.
Our event will focus on four subtopics, abbreviated by R.I.S.E. This blog will address the first two subtopics of R.I.S.E and our upcoming blog will address the remaining two subtopics.
R: Revisit, Reimagine, and Reorganize For the event, we will have panelists joining us in discussion. Through various perspectives, we plan to revisit issues in human rights today. One promising trend is the reimagining of human rights in a multifaceted fashion. Efforts to defend human rights are being reorganized in a way that incorporates arts, sports and faith. Such multi-sectoral approach is making human rights the story of larger populations rather than being a technocratic issue. Religion, for example, is becoming an integral component in global efforts to uphold human rights after a long period of poor recognition of its great potential.
I: Identify, Interact, and Impact This section of our event will consist of the contributions from academics, scholars, and leaders of civil society and human rights organizations. We have conducted interviews with a variety of professionals, which will be compiled into a presentation under this subtopic of the event. We asked interviewees questions regarding the state of human rights, why it is relevant to young adults, and how human rights relate to their field of expertise. Essentially, we asked our participants how they identify human rights issues, interact with human rights on their own time, and how they think people can impact their communities to progressively transform human rights.
This event is a call to our young adults, who can often feel impotent as they battle to find their voice amidst issues that seem larger than life. Rumi Forum welcomes these rising voices in sparking discussions that are going to occur around various topics of human rights at Say YES (Youth Empowered Solutions) on the International Day of Human Rights, December 11, 2020. Registration is open for all young leaders. Click HERE for more information about the event.
Author: Jared Fyfe
