TAMPA BAY, JANUARY 12, 2010 - The year 2010 was named by the United Nations as the “International Year of Youth: Dialogue and Mutual Understanding”.

So as to raise dialogue between groups and create mutual understanding, Youth for Human Rights Florida is reaching out to youth of all races, cultures, religions and ages to help others to understand their human rights and respect the rights of others through the education of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.



According to the United Nations a “youth” is from the age of 15 to 24, with approximately one billion youth live in the world today or 18% of the world’s population are "youth".



Some of the ideas of the United Nations General Assembly, Sixty-fourth session on Social Development, are stated as: “(a) Creating effective channels of cooperation and information exchange among young people, their national Governments and other decision makers…” and “…(b) Encouraging and promoting youth-led organizations and the important role they play in promoting young people’s civic engagement and in providing non-formal education through financial and technical support and the promotion of their activities…”



As the UN promotes “civic engagement”, Youth for Human Rights Florida is working to get the Universal Declaration of Human Rights taught in schools throughout Florida, and beyond. The youth president, Dustin McGahee, has already written to Governor Charlie Crist to ask to meet with him to discuss the importance of teaching human rights in schools. “Human Rights must be taught in schools. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was created in 1948 with and stated these rights are to be taught in schools as a solution to peace, but 61 years later they are still not a required curriculum.”



But human rights advocate Dustin McGahee won’t sit idle waiting for Governor Crist, as this month alone Youth for Human Rights Florida will be participating in an Interfaith Conference, walking in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and taking part in an educational conference for Black Heritage Week; all to create a more peaceful world by educating others of their human rights. McGahee became involved in educating others of their human rights as he is inspired to action by the words of humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard, “Human rights must be made a fact, not an idealistic dream.”



Youth for Human Rights Florida educates people of all ages about their human rights, both in and out of the classroom. There are many ways to learn about human rights, but Youth for Human Rights International (YHRI) a non-profit, secular organization founded in 2001 by educator Dr. Mary Shuttleworth, created an easy to understand video of each of the human rights designed for youth. In less than a minute the youth can learn one of their human rights. For more information on Youth for Human Rights and free DVD downloads on the 30 human rights go: www.youthforhumanrights.org.

To contact Youth for Human Rights Florida contact: dustin-AT-youthforhumanrightsflorida.org