Alumni from the Global Campus of Human Rights Central Asia and the Youth Advisory Group (YAG) are launching a youth-led Human Rights Education campaign after a productive meeting with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The idea began at the “Unleashing Human Rights” forum in Budapest in December 2025, where participants—including MAHRS alumna Pokiza Juraeva (’25)—took part in discussions and interviews with the OHCHR communications team for the “Everyday Essential” initiative. Those conversations inspired alumni to keep collaborating and to create a campaign that makes human rights education accessible, engaging, and relevant for young people across regions.

OHCHR invited alumni to propose locally relevant pilot projects to foster youth awareness and advocacy. After presenting their campaign concept to OHCHR communications specialists and human rights experts, the group received enthusiastic support. OHCHR and the Global Campus of Human Rights will amplify the campaign’s reach by promoting the initiative, advising on communications strategy, and connecting the team with UN expertise. Importantly, the campaign will remain youth-led and operate under its own organizational identity, with its own name, website, and social media channels.

The initiative—now named the Road to Joy Human Rights campaign—reflects the team’s aim to guide people toward dignity and well-being through human rights education. MAHRS alumni Navruz Erkaev (’26) and Pokiza Juraeva (’25) have joined the project leadership team and will help coordinate next steps. “Young people should lead the conversation about their rights and how to teach them,” said Navruz Erkaev. “This initiative gives us space to design locally meaningful education projects while benefiting from the technical and outreach support of OHCHR and the Global Campus.”

The campaign is organized across departments including administration and communications, content creation and creative ideas, and research and outreach. As a member of the Research and Outreach team, Pokiza analyzes social media trends and explores ways to connect them with human rights education and advocacy strategies. The team researches relevant subtopics, supports content development, and will invite experts, academics, and human rights defenders to participate in podcasts and collaborative discussions to strengthen the campaign’s global impact.

Human rights are part of everyday life. Respecting them means respecting every person’s dignity, integrity, and choices—values that should be taught from childhood in families, kindergartens, and schools, says Pokiza Juraeva.

Please follow and support the campaign on Instagram: @roadtojoy.hre (https://www.instagram.com/roadtojoy.hre?igsh=MTk4MjE2ODQ3dmNx&utm_source=qr).
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