This powerful quote from Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai opened the fourth edition of the conversation series that brings together young people from around the world to discuss human rights education for, with and by youth.

To mark the International Day of the Girl Child, the webinar on 11 October 2022 focused on the theme “Standing Up for Girls’ Rights Through Human Rights Education.” SGI, the UN Office of High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) and Amnesty International organized the event, which was interpreted into English and Russian. Aizat Ruslanova from Kyrgyzstan presented her work, in which she uses human rights education to empower girls and women in Kyrgyzstan to defend their rights.

Ruslanova implements educational projects for teenagers across Kyrgyzstan that teach ideas not often addressed in schools, offer human rights training, and provide examples for how society can improve its treatment of girls and women. “It is not always effective to just talk about human rights [or] talk about womens’ rights because a very big challenge is how we speak,” Ruslanova said. Therefore, she uses the arts as a medium to convey the same message differently. “Through art you can tell a lot and show a lot of what was not clear before,” explained Ruslanova. After Ruslanova’s remarks, the webinar concluded with a song by Zere Asylbek, a young artist from Kyrgyzstan. The song, called Apam Aitkan (meaning “Mom Said” in English), tells a story about the daily dangers and harassment that women face in Kyrgyzstan and is based on Zere’s own life experiences.

Ruslanova implements educational projects for teenagers across Kyrgyzstan that teach ideas not often addressed in schools, offer human rights training, and provide examples for how society can improve its treatment of girls and women. “It is not always effective to just talk about human rights [or] talk about womens’ rights because a very big challenge is how we speak,” Ruslanova said. Therefore, she uses the arts as a medium to convey the same message differently. “Through art you can tell a lot and show a lot of what was not clear before,” explained Ruslanova. After Ruslanova’s remarks, the webinar concluded with a song by Zere Asylbek, a young artist from Kyrgyzstan. The song, called Apam Aitkan (meaning “Mom Said” in English), tells a story about the daily dangers and harassment that women face in Kyrgyzstan and is based on Zere’s own life experiences.