The Hague Youth Declaration on Human Rights in Action
40 personal human rights commitments to make this world a better place
20 October 2018, The Hague
PREAMBLE
- We the young people and citizens of the world, gathered at One Young World 2018, to commemorate and celebrate the 70th birthday of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) present this declaration as the legacy of the One Young World summit in The Hague, the City of Peace and Justice.
- This declaration embodies the commitment of a new generation to bring “human rights home” and translate universal human rights law into meaningful, tangible and lasting action on the national and local levels.
- We the young people and citizens of the world constitute more than half of the world’s population and thus are inevitable in our growing significance. We commit to utilize and harness the potential of young people to enact and drive innovation in the age of technological advancement.
- We underline the universality of human rights as embodied in the UDHR. We renew the commitment of a new generation to respect, protect and fulfil human rights always and everywhere and underscore in this context the importance of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the UN Security Council Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security.
- We the young people and citizens of the world commit to ensure universal accessibility and inclusion of all young people; to take care of the planet and leave no one behind.
- We the young people have tremendous creative potential. We are open and committed to learn from each other, between and across generations and value the importance of lifelong learning throughout. We commit to carefully preserve what has been developed by the previous generations and passionately build upon it for the generations to come.
- We the young people and citizens of the world acknowledge the privilege of the delegates present at One Young World, and the necessity to listen to and represent the voices of others. We commit ourselves to this declaration, and will actively promote others not present to join.
- This declaration inspires a first set of committed and targeted actions by us the young people and citizens of the world. We nurture, value and empower youth as a continuous variable of society.
A) Commitments on Civil and Political Rights
- We collect and share crime statistics in our communities in order to engage our local governments in ending the culture of violence and impunity, and we will also participate in crime prevention activities in our communities. These statistics will by no means support racial profiling.
- We will create unbiased community watches to check and report to authorities on instances of forced labour, especially involving minors #ringthebell
- We will report and share stories of torture of prisoners to the outside world #dontforget
- We will reach out to directors of prisons and police commissioners in order to plea for setting up independent integrity committees and complaint mechanisms in their organizations
- We commit to be not corrupt in our current and future jobs, and we will stand up against corruption and misuse of power in our direct environment #nobribes
- We commit to do business in an environmentally sustainable manner, and promote progressive Corporate Social Responsibility policies within our organizations
- We will be very cautious in the sharing of private information through social media, and we will create awareness in our direct environment about the importance of online safety
- We will do everything in our power to make sure that our employers are not collecting and sharing confidential, including medical, data without the explicit consent of the person involved
- We will advocate private sponsored refugees, mobilizing resources from our companies and networks, or advocating legal changes
- We will engage the silent majority in advocating that governments avoid sending back refugees to unsafe countries. #itswaroutthere
- We will create a web-tool in order to link undocumented migrants and stateless people who want to go back to their native to countries, to local NGOs in order to provide help in getting official documents.
- We will accompany stateless people to consulates and embassies in order to get the papers they need, when this is safe
- We will start a crowdfunding campaign for women who cannot escape marriage and/or sexual abuse because of lack of resources #lockedup
- We will raise the awareness of adolescents and young people on national and international law on marriage (and divorce) through promotional material, social media, and other resources #lockedup
- We will commit to educate ourselves on the investments of our employers, with a focus on potential human rights violations
- We will create a platform for activists who experience a shrinking civil society space in order for them to advocate anonymously without any danger of unjust prosecution and share their stories 17) We will train young people about politics and how to get involved and run for office
- We will stimulate voter registration and voter turn-out among young people #righttovote
- We will sensitize medical personnel in our countries to grant access to healthcare for every individual irrespective of their identity or sexual orientation
- We will take responsibility of the well-being and health of our (future) employees in accordance with the right to rest, leisure, a safe and clean working environment
- We will involve our employers in providing technological means or financial resources in order to increase access to food, water, sanitation and hygiene
- We will create a digital exhibition of oppressed minorities and cultures that tend to disappear, including music, clothing and cooking, in order to raise awareness #powerthepeople
- We will advocate that our organizations implement practices that contribute to sustainable development and the improved lives of future generations
- C) Marginalized Groups
- We will ask our employers to commit to a safe workplace for LGBTIQ+ personnel
- We will call out through our (social) media channels the companies, non-governmental organizations and local and national governments that discriminate against marginalized groups #jobs4all
- We will commit to standing up for people who face discrimination at work or in the recruiting process within our companies, non-governmental organizations and government agencies
- 27) We will stand in solidarity with LGBTIQ+ groups and form gay-straight alliances
- We will stand up to people using homophobic, sexist and racial slurs in sports #offside
We will share via social media pictures of inaccessible public and private buildings in order to stimulate the enforcement of national laws on disability rights #notwelcome
We will become language buddies to refugees in our societies, actively dedicating time to language education
We source human capital and financial resources to provide for the integration of refugees in our local communities on a needs basis
We promote inclusive company policies to wear religious symbols
We will create networks of young women within companies and governments in order to support female empowerment and create gender equality #metoo
We will provide public places like museums and parks with signs, tools and infrastructure to make these better accessible for people with mental and physical disabilities, including the visually and hearing impaired
D) Education
We will volunteer in our communities to educate primary school students about human rights, including relevant regional treaties
We will call out - using social media - misuse of funds, inefficient public-school spending and lack of education, in order to increase the quality of education #education4all
We will help public-schools raise their quality standards, human rights education and decrease drop-outs, by making national and international materials and best practices more accessible to them
We will break gender-stereotypes in education. We will raise our children, daughters especially, with a special emphasis on science, technology and maths
E) Gender equality and special responsibilities of men
We vow to educate our fellow men and sons to treat women with respect and to break patriarchal patterns in our societies, since these men have a crucial role to fulfil in reaching gender equality #menengage
We will all join the UN campaign against sexual and gender-based violence and ensure male participation in it #16daysofactivism
CONCLUDING REMARKS
We the young people of the world call upon all citizens of the world to embrace and support this declaration.
We call upon our respective governments to support us in our commitments by maintaining and enlarging the space necessary to create an enabling environment in which human rights are the cornerstone towards a more peaceful, just, inclusive, society and a resilient and sustainable future.
We call upon our respective governments to enable full participation of the youth populations in their political and civic life.
We the young people commit to sowing the seeds of this declaration so that we can harvest the future together. We can change the world, together as one.
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This declaration is a Cordaid, Kompass and One Young World initiated process