About

The Beginning

The following letter signed by youth activists is an appeal for us to unite. It contains a list of organizations that are early supporters.

To All Youth and Advocates for Youth:

“We are the generation we have been waiting for!” These are words spoken by youth and we hope to turn them into reality.

Organizations such as the National Youth Rights Association, Youth by Youth, Up For Learning, and VT Student Anti-Racism Network are examples of active youth groups. Our dream is that all such groups, and all youth, will unite behind a common action that will demonstrate our collective strength. The goal is to secure the rightful place of youth in society by gaining much needed worldwide attention and support for youth and the organizations working to have their rights respected.

The collective action we propose is the creation of a global Youth Rights Day to take place on November 20^th, the day the United Nations celebrates its Convention on the Rights of the Child. We see this action as creating a tool for all pro-youth groups to augment what they do with no cost attached. It’s based on the principle – “Work smarter, not harder.”

The day itself is envisioned as a festival of events organized by groups throughout the world to showcase the talents of youth, the contributions they have to make, and the work being done to promote youth agency. We ask all people to imagine how they can use a Youth Rights Day to create gain with no drain on their efforts to create a better future for everyone.

Watch how a movement happens and then please join the dance we have started. Write to youthrightsday@gmail.com to become a youth signatory of our next letter of appeal. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter, and join our Facebook group. Beckon to all the people you know to join in, and at the same time bring them up to date with what you are doing to give people hope. Each new dancer represents a vote for a better world. We ask that you have your organization and those of others added to our participating organizations. By coming together, we can be the game changing generation.

The Youth Rights Day movement is a grassroots initiative. The signatories of this appeal speak only for themselves and not on behalf of any group. This helps to keep the message pure. 

Respectfully,

Zineb Mouhyi – California
Lindsey Halman – Vermont
Simi Musa – UK
Addie Lentzner – Vermont
Ella Reilly – UK
Bella Vasquez – Texas
Fatma Shami – UK
Zeke Jackson – Minnesota
Grace W-P – Toronto, Ontario
Selva Lorenz -Germany/Spain
Mahi Thakur –  India
Brian Conner – US
Dhanvi Shah – US
Jester Jersey – US
Tay Arrow – US
Loshini Subendran – UK
Charlie Shread – UK
Marianne Osório – Brazil
Bruno Gioia Sandler – Finland/Spain
Jocelyn Wong – Vancouver, Canada