Trained by the Rary Aro Mada project, young human rights defenders working at regional observatories contribute to the monitoring of human rights violations and the fight against impunity in Madagascar.

The launch of the first-ever UN Human Rights Youth Advisory Board at the global level commits to promoting young people’s right to participation in human rights work.

When José Quisocala noticed children in his native Peru living in poverty and environmental squalor, he opted to do something to help. At age seven he founded a bank that uses money raised from recycled waste collected by children to create accounts for customers to pay for things like food and school fees.

Titouan Bernicot, a marine conservationist from French Polynesia, has been working to restore depleting coral reefs in the South Pacific Ocean. “Corals are the rainforest of the seas, the ocean lungs. They are so important for our planet well-being and for us as humans,” he says.

Benedict Bryan is a young human rights defender from Trinidad and Tobago. He’s working to ensure a more empowering space for young people to speak about and exercise their rights.

Lual Mayen spent 22 years of his life in a refugee camp in Uganda after fleeing civil war in his home country, South Sudan. Today, he heads a company that creates video games to promote peace and a foundation to provide access to technology to those still living in refugee camps.