20 March 2017 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND —Filipino youth volunteer Marian Belarmino affirmed the role of young people in promoting human rights in their communities during a panel discussion on “Youth for Human Rights and the Common Good” at the Palais Des Nations on March 16 on the sidelines of the ongoing 34th Session of the Human Rights Council.

The 20-year old youth leader of Vides Philippines Volunteers Foundation spoke about her group’s mobile programs in partnership with community-based organizations and educational institutions in raising awareness on children’s rights and indigenous people’s rights. She also spoke about her organization’s activities to support literacy and livelihood programs for the Aeta communities in the Philippines.

She noted that Philippine youth groups are part of the country-wide consultations process for the preparations of the Philippine report for its Universal Periodic Review in the Human Rights Council (HRC) this year. Experts present in the meeting cited this as a good practice of involving the youth in the discussions at the national and international levels on the promotion and protection of human rights.  

Ms. Belarmino, who was 15 when she started doing volunteer work, was one of the four youth panelists invited to speak in the panel. Young people from Uruguay, Syria, and Slovak Republic, as well as a teacher from Congo, also shared their own experiences in supporting human rights education in their countries, through their youth-based youth-driven programs. Twenty-two (22) Missions in Geneva, including the Philippine Mission, co-sponsored the event with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. END