More than 40,000 Scouts learn to Stand Up for Human Rights

8 August 2019

More than 40,000 young people, aged 14-17, from across the world gathered to learn, laugh and work on the sustainable development goals during the 24th World Scout Jamboree.

The Jamboree, which happens once every four years, is a chance to members of scout troops and units from around the world to promote peace and mutual understanding and develop leadership and life skills.

Jan Mlymarczyk from Poland is one of the volunteers at the Jamboree, training the scouts on human rights issues. A scout himself for 6 years, Mlymarczyk, said it is very important for young people to be reminded to stand up for human rights.

“I can see a lot of young people that are not bothered by human rights what so ever, which bothers me,” he said. “From European perspective, we tend forget that there are other parts of the world where the state of human rights is not as good as ours.”

UN Human Rights was one of the global partners for the Jamboree, which focused on the sustainable development goals. The Office wanted to acknowledge that, through their service work, scouts were defending human rights.

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