Bringing Rights Awareness into India through Youth: IARF Human Rights Education

Description

Bro. Albert Xaviour describes how IARF’s human-rights education work helped young adults in India move from learning about rights to carrying practical awareness into rural communities. Drawing on his own background in a fishing family and social work, he recalls confronting bonded labour, caste discrimination, honour killings, communal violence and other forms of exclusion before encountering IARF human-rights training in 2005.

The film follows the development of youth-led programmes in villages and colleges, with particular attention to Dalit, Adivasi and other marginalized communities, women and children. Xaviour presents human-rights education as a way to help people recognize their dignity, understand legal and social rights, and build peace and harmony across caste, religious and community divisions. The video was submitted to the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs’ Division for Social Policy and Development.