African Human Rights Leadership Campaign Beginnings, 2006-2007
The African Human Rights Leadership Campaign began in 2006 with the help in particular of young 20-something activists Jay Yarsiah in Liberia and Sammy Jacobs Abbey in Ghana. We started with the notion that Youth for Human Rights International (YHRI) could help young people make a difference in post-conflict zones, and in broader Africa, using human rights education materials that cut across cultural and literacy divides.
Joseph Yarsiah, Monrovia, Liberia human rights education workshop, November, 2006
Those YHRI materials include the Thirty Rights DVD, a series of one minute youth-oriented visual stories, each portraying an article of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 (UDHR). YHRI-published booklets and lesson plans on the UDHR complement the piece. Inside of a half-hour, that video alone can kick-off an understanding and enthusiasm on the breadth of the Universal Declaration, the first international document defining human dignity and social justice. Yet, we had no clear path from there to a meaningful educational process for youth in countries with limited resources and very challenging circumstances.