How to Bring a Human Rights-Based Approach when to Working with Disengaged and At-Risk Young People

Human rights education is crucial in today's world, where understanding and advocating for basic human rights are more important than ever. One platform that stands out in providing practical human rights education workshops is Everyday Human Rights.

As we know, many of disengaged and young people who are at risk of becoming involved in the youth justice system haven't just been pushed to the margins—many have been shoved off the map entirely. They have been labeled "troublemakers", "difficult" or much worse. They've been excluded from schools, families, and communities. When young people who expect adults to close ranks against them see adults holding other adults accountable—respectfully but firmly—they witness something revolutionary.

They learn that standards might actually apply to everyone, not just to them. They glimpse the possibility that authority can be fair, not just another system that works against them.

That’s why when working with marginalised and socially-excluded young people, a human rights-based approach can provide a powerful antidote to many of the harms caused through dysfunctional experiences they have had with adults, authority figures and systems. Human rights frameworks focus on addressing the root cause rather than focusing only on immediate needs. Additionally, it is also a framework for building trust and reassuring young people that the boundaries and consequences we place on them can apply to adults too.

Unlike traditional needs-based approaches that are applied in social service settings, which tend to be reactive and have a short-term emphasis, a human rights-based approach can be foundational in developing genuine, trusting, pro-social relationships because it’s practical focus on the root causes of the systemic dysfunction.

In practice, this might mean:

• Using the same respectful tone with young people facing multiple challenges that we use with other adults

• Explaining the reasons behind decisions, recognizing many have had decisions made about them without explanation their entire lives

• Following through on commitments, especially with young people who expect

  disappointment

• Listening first without judgment, then responding to the needs beneath challenging

• behaviors

• Stepping in when a colleague speaks dismissively to a young person with a difficult

  reputation

• Acknowledging when policies are being applied unfairly to young people already facing multiple disadvantages

• Admitting our own mistakes and making real amends, especially to young people who have rarely received genuine apologies

• Genuinely hearing a young person out, so that they can feel like they matter.

• Role-modelling high ethical and respect standards for all people, regardless of their

  background or behaviour.

• Demonstrating high ethical standards, demonstrating that accountability applies to

  everyone in the organisation, as well as clients.

  
  

When we uphold rights-based principles with young people who've seldom experienced reliability from authority figures, we are showing them what it looks like when someone with power uses it responsibly. For young people who've seen adult power and influence used inappropriately, this builds trust in ways more quickly and more meaningfully than other approaches. Too often we hear stories of young offenders finding the belonging they crave in places that disconnect them from society in favour of peers who will show them more loyalty and respect than the authority figures in their lives.

The human rights-based approach flips this script.

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