Guyanese presents UN with alternative to addressing injustice

Sep 08, 2008 News

Vadewattie Makhan, a young woman who hails from Guyana, travelled to the United Nations for the September 5h conference, meeting with youth delegates from 30 other countries at a conference on the use of human rights education as the only effective method of change in a world where violence and injustice are too prevalent.
Makhan is a young woman who sees the UN’s Universal Declaration on Human Rights as a tool for guiding both international and private interpersonal relations, “I strongly believe that in order for human rights to have any merit, we as individuals must take responsibility for them…Rights become a reality only when people uphold them. In our daily struggle for freedom, justice and peace, responsibility for the human rights of others is a must!”
The conference focused on the role education plays in bringing about real human rights, and the ways in which youth around the world can and are participating in efforts to increase understanding of human rights.
“Truth and knowledge are irresistible forces. Youth around the world are working to implement the Declaration, and thus to make human rights a fact, not an idealistic dream,” said Mary Shuttleworth, President of Youth for Human Rights International, which organized the fifth annual summit.
Makhan’s efforts earned her recommendations to represent Guyana from the American University of Peace Studies in Guyana and the Guyana Madrasi Organization. Writing on behalf of the University, Marie Stephanie Prasad wrote that Ms. Makhan “always seeks ways in which to enhance her knowledge and is self-motivated. … She is a person of a quiet disposition and very cooperative. With these character traits, I can assure you that whatever she pursues will be done in an honest, disciplined and diligent manner.”
Co-sponsors of the summit included the Human Rights Department of the Church of Scientology International and the UN Mission of Liberia.
The youth delegates heard from and interacted with diplomats such as the UN Ambassador from the African Union and Jack Healey, Founder of the Human Rights Action Center and former President of the Amnesty International, USA.
“It is remarkable what is being accomplished around the world by the simple, personal act of educating people about their human rights,” said John Carmichael, the New York coordinator for Youth for Human Rights.
“To see people like Ms. Makhan embracing what Eleanor Roosevelt and the United Nations started 60 years ago, when the Universal Declaration was passed, is moving beyond words. It represents the hope that the world will be a better place for our children and our children’s children.”
According to Shuttleworth, the Declaration was intended to prevent the human rights abuses that occurred during the Second World War, but “a key part of the plan for the implementation of the Declaration was that every government would ensure its citizens were informed about it.
Youth for Human Rights and its 82 chapters around the world are determined to see the full implementation of those rights, beginning with a massive educational campaign.”
To do so, Youth for Human Rights has produced an award-winning set of videos shorts that introduce the 30 points of the Declaration. These shorts have been played on 3000 channels in 18 languages around the world. The videos and a lesson plan are being used in schools internationally to teach students what their rights are, and that they need to respect the rights of others as well.

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Guyanese presents UN with alternative to addressing injustice

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