Shaheer George works in the Governance and Civic Engagement program at CARE International in Egypt. Jianan Jin is a Chinese exchange student in Thailand where she is studying human rights and international relations. Zukiswa Mqolomba is a development activist, researcher, policy analyst, and strategist in her native South Africa.
These three individuals and about 90 others from more than 70 different countries came to Storrs for a 10-day human rights youth forum, Aug. 5-14.
The forum is sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Chair & Institute of Comparative Human Rights. Its objective is to bring together young activists, ages 18-30, from around the world to share experiences and good practices and study the policies and processes necessary for them to assume human rights leadership roles in their own communities.
Attendees were selected from nearly 900 applicants. Their stories are as diverse as their backgrounds, yet they are united by a single theme: Each is committed to the cause of universal human rights, crossing boundaries of race, religion, political affiliation, gender, and sexual orientation.
Amii Omara-Otunnu, associate professor of history and UNESCO Chair in Comparative Human Rights, organized the conference. “The most remarkable thing about this group,” he said, “is the diversity of their experiences and the commitment they have all made as young people to make a difference in the lives of people who are less fortunate than they are. They have a willingness to embrace new ideas and a willingness to listen to each other and build a network so that they can do so much more work than they could do as individuals.”
The theme of working together was one that was repeated often by conference participants.
Rayila Maimaiti was born in the Xinjiang Khotan district of China and is of Uyghur (Turkic) extraction. She works for an HIV/AIDS organization as a policy advocacy coordinator and is also involved with issues related to Uyghur minority rights in urban centers in China. She was impressed by her fellow attendees.
“The conference is wonderful,” she said. “The parts I like the most are the group meetings where we can discuss a lot of issues and share our stories. We learn from each other. These are wonderful people who do incredible things.”
Among the lectures and workshops were sessions dealing with grassroots organizing and coalition building; women’s rights as human rights; understanding the effects of war and gender-based violence; and conflict resolution and peace building.
In his address to the group, “Foundations of Human Rights Leadership and Ethics,” Omara-Otunnu said, “The most important thing about leadership is how we come to terms with ourselves. Human rights leaders must therefore have an ethical compass and be anchored in ethical values.”
The benefit of this, he said, in addition to being good in and of itself, is that ethical leadership “generates trust, cements mutual confidence, facilitates the dispatch of business, increases stability [within a population], and contributes to the creation of wealth for all people.”
Also addressing the conference was Robert H. Forrester, president and CEO of the Newman’s Own Foundation and chairman and CEO of Newman’s Own Inc., both founded by the late actor and philanthropist Paul Newman. To date, Paul Newman and Newman’s Own Foundation have donated more than $295 million to thousands of charities around the world. Forrester’s speech, “Reflections on Philanthropy,” described the far-reaching effects of philanthropy on the world’s less fortunate, and supported the theory that there is an ethic to giving that generates results that are far greater than the initial investment of time and money.
In addition to the presentations and workshops that took place on the Storrs campus, the group traveled to Camp Courant in Farmington, Conn., a summer day camp for urban children, where they performed grounds keeping and maintenance tasks as part of their commitment to community service, and to New York City for the launch of the International Year of Youth at the United Nations.
Melvin Archbold is originally from Corn Island in the Southern Autonomous Atlantic Region of Nicaragua. He comes from a family of fishermen and holds a Master’s degree in International Fisheries Management. Summing up his experience at the conference, he said it is clear that it doesn’t matter whether a person is from a developed country or an underdeveloped country; “The problems are similar” he said, “and although young people are often said to be the hope of the future, we are here in the present and it is up to us to take action now.”
