Youth for Human Rights World Tour Arrives in New Zealand

The Youth for Human Rights World Tour members reached Auckland, New Zealand, where they were given a tradition Maori welcome at a Maori meeting center in Otara, a suburb of Auckland. The main speaker was Rev. Pukerua Parai, a local minister and the founder of a community trust. A number of youth attended and YHRI President, Mary Shuttleworth, briefed on the tour and showed the newly released public service announcements (PSAs) that depict each of the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The group participated in an event to celebrate the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People which was jointly held by the Auckland City Council and the New Zealand Human Rights Commission. Other speakers included Auckland councilors, a representative from the Commission and a spokesperson for Auckland University. The event was covered on local TV.

Ms. Shuttleworth gave a lecture on human rights to 50 students at Mangere Bridge School and a group of youth at the Onehunga Community Center. The UNITED music video was shown to them as well as the PSAs. They then discussed the subject of human rights abuses both local and international.

Youth for Human Rights continue getting out the message of the importance of human rights education with a presentation to a local chapter of Business Networking International and Mary and a 45-minute radio show on Radio Waatea, a Maori station in Auckland.