CASE STUDY
YOUTH LEARNING THEIR
HUMAN RIGHTS IN TAIWAN
With 10 percent of Taiwanese students reportedly victimized by bullying in schools every day, Youth for Human Rights Taiwan actively works to raise awareness among youth.
Since YHR Taiwan’s formation in 2004, its objective has been to reach schools with human rights education, empowering youth to protect their own rights and the rights of others. To carry out this objective, the YHR Taiwan team has aligned its activities with human rights events commonly observed throughout the world.
On the International Day of Tolerance, celebrated annually on November 16, YHR organizes such events as a human rights lecture tour that visits remote elementary schools in the Pingtung County in southwest Taiwan.
YHR also holds public events and school presentations in Kaohsiung each December 10, International Human Rights Day. Hundreds of students gather for impromptu performances demonstrating articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. One such performance was a play staged by young advocates at a Kaohsiung elementary school, enacting the human right “Don’t Discriminate.”
Throughout the year, YHR conducts seminars and presentations in elementary and middle schools, lectures in universities and petition drives across the country. To date, these presentations have reached 59,000 students in 435 schools. The message has been further disseminated with thousands of news articles, TV and radio appearances, and through human rights public service messages aired on 50 stations to 6 million viewers.
The positive response and demonstrable change among school students are a testimony to the program’s effectiveness and led the Minister of Education to officially appoint Youth for Human Rights as a member of Taiwan’s Human Rights Education Council.
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