Amnesty will lukso and singgit with young people in Visayas and Mindanao

by Mei Orias,AIPhi

A youth conference geared at developing young people towards active participation on human rights advocacy starts today gathering 50 youth participants from Visayas and Mindanao. The conference which carries the theme, “Lukso, Singgit Kabatan-onan alang sa Tawhanong Katungod” is organized by Amnesty International Philippines thru its members in Cagayan de Oro.

“For almost 14 years now, Amnesty International Philippines has conducted youth summits and conferences focusing on human rights specific on, but not limited to, the issues of the youth. One of Amnesty International’s greatest movers for its activism is its human rights education work, and as a young organization with almost 50% of its membership coming from the youth, Amnesty International believes that empowering young people is one key to achieve impact in its human rights work.” said Membership Development and Human Rights Education Program Coordinator, Jeselle Papa.

The conference gathers 15 to 25 year-olds representing different organizations and schools, coming from diverse backgrounds and hailing from Dumaguete, Misamis Oriental, Cagayan de Oro City, Agusan del Sur and Norte, Bukidnon, Surigao del Sur, Zamboanga City, Zamboanga del Sur, and Pagadian City.

“Amnesty International honors the principle of diversity and is therefore inclusive. Despite a rigorous application process, we made it sure that as much as possible all sectors and provinces will have a youth representative. This conference is open for all, not only to Amnesty International youth members in Visayas and Mindanao. Most speakers and resource people come from Mindanao. We want to bring in experts from the same region to bridge the language barrier and present a more relevant human rights situation.” explained Papa.

Amnesty International also furthers that youth empowerment and action towards change are the main objectives of the conference. While building youth constituencies in the regions, young people will also contribute in preventing human rights violations using methods such as human rights education.

“Poverty and its relation to human rights and how it is affecting the enjoyment of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights will be deepened in this conference. This will be conducted with special focus on people living in poverty, the marginalized sectors such as indigenous peoples, women and children. The conference will also try to present how violence fuels poverty. What’s unique about our conference is that it doesn’t stop at education; we give the tools to the youth to be able to do action on human rights issues. So aside from issues, we also have skills training and capacity building activities. We believe that education should not only be a source of knowledge but of activism as well.” Concluded Papa.

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