Youth Speak Out for International Day Of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression

By Chad Andro

Whether it is the shocking statistics of 300,000 child soldiers worldwide, the more than two million children killed in conflict in the last two decades, an estimated 80 thousand children that die annually from violence from within the family in just one continent, or the 797,500 children a year under the age of 18 in the United States alone that were reported missing with the possibility of being trafficked for sex or labor, these are all statistics on how children throughout the world today are suffering through mental or physical abuse.

Youth for Human Rights President, Dustin McGahee, is asking youth across the world who can make a difference to speak out on June 4, International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression, to help those who can’t speak for themselves.

“This is the time for us, the youth of today, to raise our voices and make a difference,” says McGahee. “As long as we wait for someone else to do it, the job doesn’t get done. As long as we tell ourselves that we have plenty of time to make a difference in the future, millions of people continue to be pushed down into ways of life we could not imagine.

“Every day you wait, 270 more children IN THE UNITED STATES alone become victims of human trafficking, and may never again see a life with freedom again. Every hour you wait, more than 1,400 children die of starvation and preventable diseases each hour.

“How can we, the Youth of Today, guarantee our freedom, our freedom to sing our songs, our freedom to dance, our freedom to express ourselves with the way we dress or the way we comb our hair, when most of the world doesn’t have their own freedoms.

“Freedom is not self-protecting. It is something that must be constantly taught, promoted, and fought for. And we, the youth of today, are the ones who can do that. We are the voice.

“We who have the freedom, have the responsibility. We who have the knowledge, have the power to change the lives of millions around the world.

“We, the youth of today, are the voice for the millions of children who are stolen from their homes and forced to a life of slavery. As these children had their voices stolen from them.

“We are the voice for the 300,000 child soldiers who have a shot at the enemy but no shot at life.

“We are the voice for the 100,000 million children not in school who dream of freedom but can’t spell it.

“Whatever our race, nationality, religion, and whatever other differences we may appear to have, we all have Human Rights, especially the children.

“We all share the responsibility to tell the world about human rights for children around the world. We all share the responsibility to put these rights into action for all children in every country.

“We, the youth of today, can be the voice to speak out aggression against innocent children. We, the youth of today, must tell the world, that all children have a right to grow up without violence.”

In 1982, The United Nations commemorated June 4 of each year as the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression due to the violence children receive in conflict areas, but child victims of aggression is much more widespread than only areas of conflict. Today, the purpose of this day is to acknowledge the pain suffered by children throughout the world who are the victims of physical, mental and emotional abuse. But Youth for Human Rights President, McGahee, doesn’t want to just acknowledge the abuse, he wants people to speak out against the abuse, so that children will no longer have to suffer.
Youth for Human Rights of Florida is a non-profit group that educates youth about the 30 Human Rights as written by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights both in and out of the classroom. The Youth for Human Rights has a program that is designed to present the subject of human rights in multimedia formats suitable for all ages, the materials include “The Story of Human Rights,” a documentary video that illustrates the history of human rights through the ages; booklets; public service announcements that educate youth and adults on the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Dustin McGahee was inspired to spread the word about human rights from humanitarian HYPERLINK "http://www.lronhubbard.org" L. Ron Hubbard who wrote, “Human rights must be made a fact, not an idealistic dream.” 
For more information about Youth for Human Rights go to: HYPERLINK "http://www.youthforhumanrights.org