This year, the Human Rights Day themed “Our Rights, Our Future, Right Now”, calls for human rights to be “a pathway to solutions, playing a critical role as a preventative, protective and transformative force for good”. Young people are indispensable for achieving and sustaining reforms. Empowering them through awareness of international standards and enhancing their ability to promote and protect human rights is crucial for building cohesive and peaceful societies. This, in turn, fosters ownership and ensures the lasting impact of these reforms.   

Aligned with this objective, the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe launched the programme Human Rights Education for Youth (HEY), with the support of the South Programme V. HEY aims to strengthen young people’s capacities to act for human rights, by raising their knowledge about European and other international standards for human rights protection (such as specific United Nations, League of Arab States and African Union treaties, conventions, protocols and charters).

Thematic courses will be developed and promoted for and by young people in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, in cooperation with national authorities, international partners and youth organisations. This will be done through a series of online tutored courses, hosted on the Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) platform. In addition, the Programme will support the creation of a network of young leaders who will further share their knowledge with their peers, within their communities and contribute to establishing contacts between young leaders and national actors. The South Programme will contribute to the development of several courses, including those on data protection and privacy rights and corruption prevention.

The latter will benefit from the experience and trainings materials developed as part of the Rule of Law Youth Network (RoLYN), which 2024-2025 cycle focuses on the interconnections between corruption and environmental degradation. Youth-friendly materials developed in this context will be incorporated into the upcoming HEY course on corruption prevention. Similarly, the HEY course on data protection will benefit from training materials developed as part of the “Data shield” pilot initiative conducted in Tunisia.

Those initiatives illustrate the CoE engagement towards stronger inclusion and empowerment of young people to further enlarge the common legal space between Europe and the Southern Mediterranean region, through the action of the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe.

More information on the HEY programme can be found here.