Youth Group Brings Human Rights to Life Throughout Mexico

Youth for Human Rights chapters of Mexico raised awareness International Human Rights Day

Youth for Human Rights chapters in Mexico celebrated the 67th anniversary of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) with marches, seminars and petition-signing events across the nation. 

The motto of this year’s International Human Rights Day, “Our Rights; Our Freedoms; Always,” signifies that each individual possesses the rights enshrined in the UDHR simply by being alive. Yet six decades after its adoption, human rights abuse in Mexico abounds—human trafficking, enforced disappearances and torture—with far too few perpetrators found or prosecuted. Coupled with this, few people are aware of their rights and responsibilities.

To raise awareness of human rights, the Youth for Human Rights Tlaxcala human rights walk began at the Escalinatas de los Heroes (Heroes Staircase) with people of all ages reciting the 30 human rights articles as they walked to the main city square. There, they distributed copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and collected signatures on a petition mandating human rights education and calling on the government to see that these rights are upheld.

In Michoacán, the Youth for Human Rights chapter joined forces with an indigenous group known as Huarache Turbo to organize a race called “Running for your Human Rights.” 

The Nueva Leon chapter sponsored a human rights art competition for children, delivered lectures in schools, and organized petition-signing events.

The Human Rights Commission of the state of Morelos invited the local Youth for Human Rights chapter to deliver a series of conferences on the UDHR on vital subjects including violence against women.

Youth for Human Rights is an educational initiative supported by the Church of Scientology. Scientologists on six continents partner with government agencies and nongovernmental organizations to bring about broad-scale awareness and implementation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the world’s premier human rights document.