The Rights of Youth Today

Youth Rights Today

Introduction

Around the world today there are laws and agreements that are meant to uphold the rights of young people. These include the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Resources

The following resources are organizations, websites and publications that can help educate young people and adult allies about what the rights of young people are right now.

Websites and Organizations

Justice for Youth
A youth created, run, and facilitated site dedicated to informing youth (ages 12-19) about their rights and topics pertaining to them. We hope to help provide poeple with necessary information to living fully, knowing their rights, and feeling able and capable of action and change.

International Youth Rights Action Alliance

The central hub on the internet where youth rights supporters can come and read the latest news and essays concerning youth rights, meet the people taking action, and find out what you can do to help. Hasn't been updated in a while, but still worth looking over.

Human Rights Internet - Youth Rights
International children's rights info and activism from Human Rights Internet.

Individual States' ACLU youth rights pages
Very informative sites promoting recognition and education about current youth rights on a per-state basis.

Article 12

A Scottish network of young people who are fighting for the recognition of the rights of young people.

One and Four

A new blog by youth rights fighter Alex Koroknay-Palicz. Offers insight, details, and resources for youth rights advocates.

American Library Association: Intellectual Freedom for Young People - A webpage that includes basic intellectual freedom principles, links to the fundamental principles of American and international libraries, and links to pages to help you understand why censoring the Internet is the same as censoring a book. Includes hot topics in intellectual freedom and a Q&A section.

KidsSpeak! - kidSPEAK is about more than talk. Kids have a right to freedom of speech. In the United States, that right is protected by the First Amendment, and there are similar protections in other countries. These rights are not as broad as the rights of adults because they have been limited by courts in the United States and elsewhere. However, where these rights exist, kidSPEAK will help kids fight for them.

Publications

Youth Rights and Responsibilities (pdf)

Published by the N.C. Attorney General's office, this book breaks down every right and responsibility that state law in N.C. dictates.

Rights and Responsibilities of Youth

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Paris Published by UNESCO, 1972 72 pages

Know Your Rights in Georgia
A pamphlet for youth from the Know Your Rights project of Youth Communication in Metro Atlanta, GA, 2000.

Youth Rights [in Montreal]

by Shellene Drakes for The Montreal Consortium for Human Rights Advocacy Training in collaboration with various community groups to put together a compilation of Quebec laws designed to help young people know their rights.

The Rights of Kids in the Digital Age

Jon Katz, Wired Magazine

The Freechild Project

Survey of North American Youth Rights, or SNAYR,

is brought to you in partnership with the National Youth Rights Association

For more information visit the Youth Rights Network

Return to the SNAYR homepage