On December 10th, youth involved in the Youth Civic Engagement and Dialogue Program [8] (YCED) in Romania commemorated International Human Rights Day [9] by creating posters depicting what human rights symbolize for them. The YCED program builds upon the Universal Declaration of Human Rights [10] by supporting youth to become active citizens who mobilize their peers to build tolerance across ethnic divisions. As participants in the project, youth are actively promoting inter-ethnic tolerance among Roma and non-Roma in their schools and communities by working together to address communal needs. Focusing on the human rights principle of equality for all, youth submitted their own interpretation of the importance of tolerance, acceptance, and protection.
YCED [8]is a program of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor [11] of the U.S. Department of State. YCED is implemented by IREX in partnership with Romani CRISS [12], an NGO that works to defend and promote the rights of Roma throughout Romania.