Calling all Youth!  Are you interested in sharing your vision to help shape the future of human rights?  Consider joining the Human Rights 75 Youth Advisory Group! Established by UN Human Rights, this group will aim to include youth perspectives to promote youth rights globally. The qualifications to join are: Be 18-29 years old (as of March 2023) Have a minimum of 2 years of experience advocating for human rights at a local, national, regional, or international level Have English language proficiency (working level) The Youth Advisory Group will run until the end of...

On 8 March 2023, the United Nations will celebrate International Women’s Day with the theme: “DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality.” The session will highlight the importance of and need for “inclusive and transformative technology and digital education” (UN Women), as well as introduce the goal of bridging the gender inequality gap that exists in the digital and technological fields. In doing so, the UN predicts that: Online violence against women will decrease The GDP of low and middle-income countries will increase due to an increased participation of women’s skills...

“Dignity, Freedom, and Justice for All” is the United Nations Human Rights Day 2022 slogan which ushers to the launching of a year-long campaign to promote the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR 75) which will be celebrated on 10 December 2023. Much has been done to guarantee and promote the human rights of peoples, especially of the most vulnerable groups. However, respect for life and the dignity of the human being as well as the freedoms of peoples and their cry for justice and peace and...

On December 7, the IIMA Human Rights Office conducted an online meeting with around 150 students (14 – 16 years old) of the Salesian Sisters’ School “UNIDAD EDUCATIVA PARTICULAR BILINGÜE CARDENAL SPELLMAN” in Ecuador. It provided the IIMA human Rights Office the opportunity to introduce the work it carries out in Geneva for the promotion of the rights of children and youth. Through this online exchange, the speaker, Maria D’Onofrio, Advocacy Officer of the IIMA Human Rights Office, informed the young participants about the recent Universal Periodic Review of Ecuador last...

On December 7th, 2022, the Study “How are the Girls?” was presented during a hybrid event taking place in Rome (Italy) and online. The event was promoted by the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, the Comboni Missionary Sisters, the Sisters of Notre Dame Des Missions and the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco and hosted by the UISG - Union International Superiors General. The four congregations have been working for decades in support of girls in the most vulnerable communities across the world. Through a joint project, they...

Last week, at its 51st session, the Human Rights Council adopted unanimously its latest resolution on youth and human rights (A/HRC/RES/51/17). The resolution establishes a biennial panel on youth and human rights, starting from the 54th session in September 2023. The first panel will focus on "young people’s engagement with climate change and global environmental decision-making processes." It also requests the High Commissioner to conduct a detailed study on the solutions to promote digital education for young people and to ensure their protection from online threats, and to submit it to...

The United Nations Human Rights Council held its fifty-first session from 12 September to 07 October 2022 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. Several topical issues were addressed during this session of the Council, such as the right to privacy in the digital age as well as the Human rights implications of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on young people. To both discussions, IIMA and VIDES contributed through two oral statements which were prepared based on the information provided by local members and partners from Ecuador and the Philippines. In particular the...

The United Nations Human Rights Council held its fiftieth session from 13 June 2022 to 08 July 2022 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The agenda of the session included several high-level meetings addressing crucial human rights issues, such as the Panel on Good Governance in Protecting Human Rights during and after Covid-19 Pandemic and the Panel on Adverse Effects of Climate Change on Human Rights of People in Vulnerable Situations. During the session of the Human Rights Council, IIMA and VIDES International delivered oral statements during the Interactive Dialogues with the Special...

The United Nations Human Rights Council held its forty-ninth session from 28 February to 1 April 2020 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The agenda of the session included several high-level meetings addressing crucial human rights issues, such as the Annual full-day meeting on the rights of the child focusing on the rights of the child and family reunification, and the Panel discussion on the importance of robust public policies and services for the protection of economic, social and cultural rights in contributing to the COVID-19 pandemic recovery. During the forty-ninth...

(Regunathapuram-India) On March 12, 2022, IIMA members in India, and in particular the Auxilium College of Education in Regunathapuram, organized an International Seminar on "The Role of Youth in Safeguarding Mother Earth", which was attended by 500 people, including students, professors and educators, in the framework of the Institutes of Higher Learning of Asia and Africa. There were important references on: 1. How environmental degradation occurs. 2. The impact of human activities on the environment, climate change and global warming. 3. Strategies to stop the deterioration of the environment: the use...