The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is urging the youth to take part in discussions on human rights issues for this year’s National Human Rights Consciousness Week (NHRCW) which runs from the 4th December-10th of December every year. Human Rights Week was institutionalized by Republic Act No. 9201. The awareness week aims to impart the importance of human rights and raise awareness on the availability of such services.
The CHR and the Civil Service Commission co-chair the NHRCW National Committee, other members include the Department of Education, Department of Justice, Department of National Defense, Department of Internal and Local Government, Department of Foreign Affairs, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine Navy, Philippine Marine Corps, the Philippine National Police, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development. Civil society organizations like the Women in Development Foundation and the International Visitor Leadership Programme are also part of the committee.
“We in the government can take the first step to engage with the youth to come up with solutions and to encourage their participation in shaping the agenda while ensuring that they can claim and exercise their rights freely and without fear,” CHR Commissioner Gwendolyn Pimentel-Gana
A Human Rights Services Fair was held at the University of the Philippines on the 6th 0f December, which will provide the public with human rights services and feature products from the different sectors. Furthermore, a concert would be held at the CHR office on the 10th of December to promote human rights in the face of dam constructions, extra-judicial killings, lack of basic services, and continuous abuse of women will be held at the CHR office the 10th of December.
Red Deer College Student Ambassador, Logan Garbanewski said “it’s about more than simply teaching about human rights. “We believe it’s important to empower kids to become human rights champions. We would like to see a future-focused around a better world for everybody, so if we can equip our youth with the proper tools to do that, we should start now,”.
