Youth for Human Rights International Completes World Tour 2009

Aug. 5, 2009 - PRLog -- Los Angeles, CA – Youth for Human Rights International (http://www.youthforhumanrights.org) just completed its World Tour 2009, visiting 12 countries on six continents in 55 days, traveling over 59,000 miles. The purpose of the tour was to teach youth and a diverse group of people about human rights, specifically, the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to inspire them to become life-long advocates for tolerance and peace.

Launched from Los Angeles on March 22nd, the exciting World Tour 2009 headed for Mexico where YRHI participated in featured meetings with multinational media and telecommunications corporations, as well as national government agencies for youth, anti-discrimination and other human rights groups.

From Mexico, they traveled to Barbados, one of the tour’s highlights, where YHRI meet with education officials and senior leaders in the national government. The tour continued to Colombia where meetings with senior officials in broadcasting, the military, and the office of the President of Colombia had been arranged.

Argentina was the next stop and the first country in the Southern Cone of South America to be visited by YHRI. The visit to Timor-Leste, one of the world’s newest countries, featured meetings with senior officials from the government and the international community. It was followed by a visit to Darwin, Australia to meet with aborigines living there.

The Middle East portion of the World Tour featured meetings with leading nonprofit organizations in Amman, Jordan, including a world-class children’s museum. Next was Moscow, which featured meetings with senior education officials and the director of the national youth library. Switzerland was a last-minute addition to the World Tour route after YHRI received an official invitation to represent youth at the Durban Review Conference at the United Nations in Geneva.

The visit to South Africa broke new ground with visits to a museum at a historical site where Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela were incarcerated. Additional meetings were held with officials of the national government, military, media and the national library. Uganda was the final stop of the tour that included talks with members of parliament and a presentation at a leading university.

"I was inspired to start YHRI by the words of humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard who said 'human rights must be made a fact, not an idealistic dream.' By traveling to the far corners of the world and meeting with like-minded people, groups and organizations, and working in collaboration, I believe we can truly make human rights a reality."  said Ms. Shuttleworth, President and founder of YHRI.  “The warm response our tour received form around the world has demonstrated enormous international acceptance and demand for the quality human rights education programs offered by YHRI.”

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Youth for Human Rights International (http://www.youthforhumanrights.org) is a non-profit organization formed in August 2001 by educator and school principal, Dr. Mary Shuttleworth. Dr. Shuttleworth recognized the importance of education and the value of teaching youth, not only that they had rights but that, according to Article 29 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that they also had responsibilities to protect their rights and the rights of their peers. They aim to reach people from diverse backgrounds and their materials often appeal across generations. From teaching human rights in the classrooms, to conferences and workshops, to hip-hop and dancing, the message spreads around the world and reaches onto every continent and into many countries. To volunteer or start a local chapter in your area visit http://youthforhumanrights.org/getactive/thingsanyonecand....