The Stellenbosch University (SU) chapter of the United Nations Association of South Africa (UNASA) and Amnesty International Stellenbosch held their 2019 Human Rights Youth Conference on Saturday.
The conference is aimed at dealing with various humanitarian and human rights issues, including human rights abuses, establishing human rights projects and forming networks with young leaders. Much of the discussion was driven by the attendees.
The conference was attended by students from SU, UCT and UWC. PHOTO: Roxanne Mooneys
According to Kira Alberts, UNASA’s Stellenbosch Human Rights Coordinator, the conference was born after previous Human Rights coordinator and UNASA chairperson for 2017, Jess Scott, attended the UN conference in Geneva. Alberts decided to continue with the conference after she also had the fortune of attending the conference in Geneva.
“I think its good if something like this is established and we keep on building. But in addition to this, Luke Waltham (current chairperson of UNASA) also had a conference last year, and it has become an annual thing. It’s a super exciting thing to tackle and why wouldn’t we try and make it as big and impactful as possible,” says Alberts.
Other topics included res culture and the environment they are building. Alberts says that this topic was heavily engaged with as it is very relevant to Stellenbosch. The conference also focused on what the youth, both university students and high school learners, want society to do about human rights issues, as well as what they can do.
Attendees at the Human Rights Conference. PHOTO: Roxanne Mooneys
Students and student leaders from the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the University of the Western Cape (UWC) were also in attendance at the event.
Katleho Letuka (18), a first year LLB-student at SU says that she learned a lot about what human rights entail and what other people perceive human rights to be.
“I feel like if everyone could just come to these conferences and understand this is what we are talking about and this is what we need to address as a society. It’s the small steps that go ahead to make something even bigger,” Letuka says.
Shreya Dabideen, the Vice Chairperson of Amnesty International at UCT, says that she felt pessimistic about coming to such a conference.
“I’ve been to a few human rights conferences and it is always just a lot of talk, it’s very separated from what’s actually going on in reality. Today has, however, been a lot different, there are people actually bringing in their experiences from the ground, saying this is what we’ve done and this is what we’ve changed and how we’ve helped people in a way that’s different to before.”
Alberts also says that she is proud to be part of the work that UNASA is doing with regards to human rights on campus.
“I’m so proud to be leading a big part of it because it is just growing so much and there is so much that can still be done.”