A group of 30 youth from the US and Rwanda, over the weekend, completed a three-week extensive workshop on the promotion of human rights.

The course, dubbed Turikumwe Human Rights Learning and Actions (HRLA), was attended by 15 youth from USA and 15 from Rwanda.

It was organised by Youth Association for Human Rights Promotion and Development (AJPRODHO) in partnership with Global Youth Connect, a US based organisation which advocates for human rights.

Speaking to The New Times during the closing ceremony, Grace Utamuriza, one of the trainees said: "This course has been very fruitful to us; we have learnt new things about human rights, like exploring in broader terms the common definition of human rights.”

She noted that the seminar enabled them to apply cross-cultural learning to concepts like development through respect of human rights.

Fred Ndahiro, another trainee said; "I am lucky to have attended this workshop because we were taught about important human rights challenges and achievements in Rwanda and in the US and I believe all these can be solved if we put together our efforts.”

In an interview, John Mudakikwa, the Executive Secretary of AJPRODHO said that the main objective of the training was to inspire the youth to take individual as well as collective actions which can lead to the promotion and protection of human rights for the benefit of all Rwandans.

He added that it was also a cross-cultural human rights workshop geared towards empowering the youth to promote the culture of respect for human rights.

During the training, the participants visited various government institutions to learn how policies and strategies aimed at promoting human rights in the country are implemented. 

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