2019 Human Rights Day
Young people in these communities deserve to be heard, given an opportunity to shape our human rights agenda
Young people are an important catalyst for transformational change, a repository of political will and the drivers of enduring solutions to the most intractable human rights challenges confronting the world today.
The existential crisis of climate change, the entrenched culture of patriarchy and sexual and genderbased violence, the rise in racial and religious intolerance as well as the advocacy of hatred against diverse identities such as the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, cyber-bullying, and the scourge of hard and synthetic drugs and its deleterious impact on our ability to enjoy physical and mental health requires not only strong and salutary laws that are consistent with the principles of human rights, fundamental freedoms and human dignity but transformational change in our societies driven by our youth. Young people need to be inspired, empowered and heard and given the platform to exact the kind of change that the world urgently requires. Their activism in reducing our carbon footprint is one such example. They do not carry the weight of prejudice that some in our society do that so often holds us back from celebrating our unique and diverse identities and therefore they must not be used as political tools. In commemorating Human Rights Day, the Human Rights and AntiDiscrimination
Commission will be hosting a community awareness session in Vunidawa Naitasiri.
The Commission believes in taking its services to ordinary Fijians in rural, remote and maritime communities who have no access to social mobility and social media platforms.
Young people in these communities deserve to be heard, given an opportunity to shape our human rights agenda, in being part of the solution and an equal fellow traveller in Fiji’s human rights journey.