Human Rights Heroes Recognized at the United Nations
During the 15th Annual International Human Rights Summit, Youth for Human Rights International awards three stellar humanitarians for their work in changing the face of their nations.
At the International Human Rights Summits, exemplary human rights advocates are awarded the Human Rights Hero Award. For this year’s 15th Annual Summit held at the United Nations headquarters in New York, Dr. Mary Shuttleworth, President of Youth for Human Rights International, presented the awards to three outstanding humanitarians:
- David Kritsun and Youth for Human Rights of Israel for uniting diverse ethnic and religious communities. Through their work, they have extended human rights education across 23 regions of Tel Aviv and to nearly 100,000 people in Jerusalem, thus building a foundation for peace.
- Nfamara Jawneh is the Founder and Executive Director of Beakanyang Kafo (meaning Equal Opportunities for All), a human rights NGO. For 22 years, under a dictatorship in The Gambia, he was a leading voice and major force for change through his broad human rights awareness and democracy campaign. His grassroots activities reached more than 20,000 people with human rights education. He now collaborates with the new democratic national government and nongovernmental agencies to build a framework for human rights education.
These awardees stand as testament to the scope of human rights education across all country borders, ethnic divides and religious differences.
- Despite constant risk and active threat from the Islamic State, Issa Sufyan Hussein has trained more than 1,700 intelligence, security and police personnel in Kurdistan on human rights. He was one of the first to use and implement the United and Youth for Human Rights curriculum in the Kurdish language and now trains other educators to carry his activities forward.
These awardees stand as testament to the scope of human rights education across all country borders, ethnic divides and religious differences. They are stellar examples of the many other heroes around the world standing up for human rights and working to improve conditions in their homelands.
FACTS
HUMAN TRAFFICKING:
The UDHR states “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude” but slavery still exists today
50%
OF PEOPLE
caught in human trafficking are estimated to be children
2–4
MILLION
children are subjected to prostitution in the global commercial sex trade
600–800
THOUSAND VICTIMS
are bought and sold across international borders every year for forced labor or commercial sex
2–4
MILLION
are trafficked each year both nationally and across international borders
$32
BILLION
is made annually through the human trafficking industry globally
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