Two 13-year-old graduating students of St. Mark’s Church School in Wellington, New Zealand, Jeeten Mavji and Lachlan Buchanan, spearheaded and carried out the winning artwork in this year’s Youth for Human Rights International Art Contest.

With the help of 30 classmates and art teacher Angela Francis, they built and painted a human rights mural as their “leavers’ artwork”—a tradition at the Wellington school since 2007 in which seniors create and leave a piece of art for future classes to enjoy.

Youth for Human Rights International (YHRI) commemorates United Nations Human Rights Day, December 10, with the third annual “International Walk for Human Rights.” Students of all ages from more than 30 countries on six continents will join in the walk, to raise awareness of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. The events will include petition drives, distribution of human rights education material, and concerts.

Youth delegates to the 8th annual Human Rights Youth Summit in Geneva, Switzerland.

Geneva—United Nations representatives, human rights NGOs and leaders of civil society joined youth delegates from 30 countries at the 8th Annual International Human Rights Summit in Geneva August 26-28, 2011.

With the United Nations estimating $7 billion dollars generated by human trafficking annually, with 700,000 to 4 million women and children sold into forced prostitution, labor and other forms of exploitation each year, human rights education has never been more urgent.