Fun and flair were the order of the day as scores of people gathered for the launch of the ‘Stand Up For Someone’s Rights Today’ national campaign in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

The campaign and event at the Nyakuron Cultural Centre was organized by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

Through song and dance, poetry and speeches, the messages shared allowed those present to reflect on what they do in their daily lives to defend someone else’s human rights.

The UN Mission’s Human Rights Director, Eugene Nindorera urged the crowd to stand up for one another’s rights irrespective of background and ethnicity.

“Stand Up For Someone’s Human Rights, today, tomorrow, every day,” he said.

Nindorera shared his personal experience in his home country, Burundi, where society remains divided along ethnic lines. He urged the people of South Sudan to move away from similar ethnically fueled tension to focus on the vision of building peace in the young nation.

Nindorera shared in the theme of the day, which was to promote human rights through song, by ending his speech with a chorus from one of his favourite musicians, Bob Marley.

“Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights! Get up, stand up: don't give up the fight,” sung everyone in unison.  

“It is the simple things. There is no action that is too small,” said Gum Thany Mon, the South Sudanese Youth Representative (SSYR) in his address.

Whether it is ensuring that a child has a safe environment to live and play, reporting abuse happening in a neighbour’s house, stepping up when someone is being bullied, Thany Mon urged young people to be involved, do the right thing, and stand up for someone’s rights.

Speaking at the event, the Chairperson of the South Sudan Human Rights Commission, Nyuol Justin Yaac, said: “South Sudan is a product of human rights; a country that paved its destiny through consistent calls for human rights.”

“When war broke out shortly after the country gained independence, human rights were the first victims, tearing the social fabric of South Sudan,” he said.

He urged youth, who make up more than 70 per cent of the nation’s population, to know their rights and stand up for the rights of the others in order to build peace and stability in the country.