History of
Youth for Human Rights International

YHRI’s street-savvy, award-winning music video, UNITED.

YHRI’s World Educational Tour was followed, in 2005, by a UNITED World Tour to mark the international release of both UNITED and the accompanying UNITED edition of What Are Human Rights?, a booklet containing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adapted for young readers. Starting in Los Angeles, the tour crossed South America and Africa before concluding with a human rights youth summit in New Delhi, India, where former Indian President K. R. Narayanan released the Hindi translation of What Are Human Rights? (The booklet is now available in a total of 17 languages.)

In 2006, Youth for Human Rights International began its third annual World Tour to promote the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as part of their campaign to implement human rights education around the world. The tour consisted of thirty events—each of which released one of the thirty short videos by YHRI depicting the human rights—across cities in the US, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, Singapore, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.

Having become an annual project and outreach action, the YHRI World Tour again circled the globe in 2007, while the 2008 World Tour visited Haiti, Venezuela, Morocco, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, Pakistan and Taiwan, Province of China. Media followed, sharing stories of visits with dignitaries, officials, religious and community leaders and youth. New friends were made and collaborations formed to take human rights education to a new level.

These World Tours have continued each year, as a vital annual program both through direct meetings and media coverage of YHRI activities, touching the lives of millions.

International Summits Hosted

Following each World Tour, YHRI has hosted International Human Rights Summits, bringing together youth delegates from around the world to discuss local issues and the role of human rights education as a vital element in bringing about tolerance and peace. The conferences were held in Los Angeles, Geneva and at the UN Headquarters in New York. During the summits, the outstanding work of members of our teams are shared and acknowledged, inspiring others to expand their efforts to promote human rights.

YHRI presently has hundreds of chapters and groups around the world, and ongoing YHRI education projects in lands as diverse as Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Ghana, Guyana, India, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Mexico, Morocco, Puerto Rico, Sierra Leone, South Africa, the US and Zimbabwe.