OHCHR: Youth Rights Advocacy Toolkit

The United Nations Human Rights Office, Education Above All Foundation and Silatech have collaborated in the creation of the Youth Rights Advocacy Toolkit. Its aim is to strengthen the capacity of youth to stand up for their rights gathering the most important information in a single place, in an accessible, user-friendly way, and to point readers and users in the direction of additional resources to support them in their advocacy for youth rights.

No prior knowledge of or experience with any of the topics discussed is needed. The toolkit is primarily intended for use by young people and youth activists, including young human rights defenders and young peacebuilders, as well as youth-led, youth-focused and youth-serving organizations; indeed it could also be useful for the work of International organizations working to promote youth rights, government representatives, Ministries of Youth and Youth Parliamentary Committees. The present toolkit is mostly addressed at young people aged 18 and older, although elements of it may also be relevant to those aged 15-17.

The toolkit works with a question and answer system. It’s divided into four sections and each of these is made up of questions and sub-questions addressing different topics:

- Human rights basics: principles and the treaties they underpin - how they relate to youth rights
- Advocating for youth rights
- Leveraging international human rights mechanisms and processes to advocate for youth rights
- Youth rights in peacebuilding and humanitarian settings

Each question corresponds to either a shorter answer, ranging from a few lines to a few short paragraphs, or a longer, more detailed answer for those interested in going deeper. In addition, there are also links to resources so that users can learn more and find further information. The different sections complement and are linked to each other, but can also be used separately, depending on needs and interests.