Knowledge is Key...Know Your Rights!

By Tyrone Hall, a Vienna Youth Force Youth Journalist and Graduate Student at Clark University, USA


The HIV and AIDS issue is a Human Rights issue. And with every right, there is a responsibility.

Know your universal human rights and demand that they are respected!

You have the right to:
-Life
-Privacy
-Information
-Education
-Work
-Non-Discrimination
-Political and Civil Rights

These are your rights even if you are a member of a vulnerable population or happen to be a migrant, refugee or an internally displaced person.

The battle for a representative, potent and sustainable youth agenda must have these rights at its core. That battle will only be won if we educate ourselves and refrain from being patronized. Get involved, peruse the international instruments and internalize them, demand action now.


Here are the main instruments:

The United Nations Charter, 1945

The Universal Declaration on Human Rights, 1948

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1976

The Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, 1981

The Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989

The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, 2003

The African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights, 1981

The World Conference on Human Rights, 1993

The International Conference on Population and Development and the Cairo Plan of Action, 1994