Fifth International Youth Camp on Human Rights and World Citizenship
Registration is now open for youth 12 to 16.
The camp will be offered on Zoom from July 28 to August 1, 2025, from 10 to 11 AM EST.
Participation is free.
Thank you to the over 120 youth who attended our camp last summer! They joined us from the US, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Colombia, Brazil, France, Uganda, Angola, Macao, Ile de La Reunion, and the Philippines.
What if we told you that over thousands of years, humans have developed a deep need to connect? That we can only grow when we are connected instead of when we are apart? That the drive for closeness and friendship is as powerful as our drive for water and food? We experience physical pain when we are left out, and we are capable of understanding each other’s feelings even before someone explains them to us.
In this camp, we will explore how we survived as a species due to our friendliness and how we have honored our interconnectedness through the development of the idea of human rights and the struggle to protect them. We will also examine some obstacles that get in the way of honoring human interconnectedness, such as prejudice, individualism, and consumerism.
Come explore these questions and more with youth from around the world!
For additional information, email: director@sjcinitiative.org
Our 2024 sessions are fully available below:
First half of the session
Day 1- Survival of the Friendliest: How we are hardwired to connect
Day 2 - Social Pain Hurts Too
Day 3 - The Human Capacity to Experience Oneness: Care, and Sacrifice Day 4 - Obstacles to the Experience of Oneness: Prejudice and Individualism.
Day 5 - The Sweetness of Connections
Second half of the session
Poetry of Resistance
Artivism – Photography for Change
Lead Facilitators:
Martha Rabbani is a doctor in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution. She has taught in universities in the US, Brazil, Mexico, and Spain. Her teaching and research focus on Education for World Citizenship and Social Justice. She is the director of the Social Justice Club Initiative and lives in Miami, Florida.
Clara Rabbani has a degree in Anthropology and is concluding her MA in Environmental Anthropology. She is the co-founder of the Social Justice Club and has been developing lesson plans and facilitating conversations on social justice since 2013. In her free time, she loves to write poetry and travel.
Ava Aslinia is the founder of the Blue Valley High’s Social Justice Club, program coordinator for the Social Justice Club on Zoom, and co-editor of Challenge Injustice, Let Your Words Shine! Poetry of Resistance from Youth Around the World. She is graduating from high school in Overland Park, Kansas. Ava is committed to addressing social inequalities on an international level.
Lyla Moreira is a rising senior at her school in Kansas, where she is passionate about the fine arts and her Diversity and Hispanic leadership clubs. She loves meeting new people with different backgrounds and cultures and discussing topics that most people are afraid to talk about in our society, which is why she is one of the lead facilitators for the Social Justice Club’s bi-weekly conversations with youth around the world. In Lyla’s words: “I’m so grateful for the opportunity to help lead and meet everyone participating in our camp, and I know you will have a great experience!”
Violeta Martínez De la Rosa lives in Mexico. She is 15 and almost a high schooler. She participates in different contests and olympiads as well as working with people of different ages and backgrounds, teaching and promoting the values of equality, equity, and justice inside and outside her community. In her free time, she enjoys playing the piano.
Narra Teresa Cruz is a 16-year-old high school student in the Manila metro area, in the Philippines. She is a student leader, a varsity football player, and also an artist who draws both digitally and by hand. Narra is described by family and friends as an old soul capable of caring deeply for social issues and justice. She is active in academics and activities with friends but she also loves quiet moments spent crocheting, reading, crafting, drawing, or communing with nature - she is very good at climbing trees!
Adib Rabbani is the co-founder of the Social Justice Club Initiative and Just Art, and editor of Focus on Justice: Photography from Youth Around the World and See Me for Yourself: Short Stories on Justice and Human Rights. He is a sophomore in college, majoring in Biology in New York City. Adib has been facilitating social justice conversations for middle school students around the world since 2019.
Nitya Attaluri is a high school student in Missouri who has been engaged in community service and leadership since a very young age. She has been an active member of the Social Justice Club for several years and already in middle school started leading her school´s social justice club activities. She has also facilitated Social Justice Summer Camps for over 50 children from around the world. Nitya has been working with organizations like Giving the Basics, Harvesters, and Youth Volunteer Corps, receiving the Presidential Volunteer Service award every year since middle school.