Human Rights Watch
student task force
Founded in 1999, the Human Rights Watch Student Task Force (STF) is a youth leadership and human rights advocacy training program that empowers students to advocate for human rights issues, especially the rights of children.
MISSION
Implementing HRW’s mission to defend human rights, STF helps youth build a foundation for human rights, raises awareness about children’s rights violations, and develops young leaders and advocates to become instrumental voices for social justice around the world.
VISION
To equip the next generation of decision-makers with the human rights knowledge, advocacy experience, and communication skills needed to make the future of our world more just.
How We Work
STF staff guide and mentor participants to implement a shared human rights advocacy action plan across campuses. Through these action plans, STF members learn how to evaluate problems and independently discover ways to address them, harnessing the leadership skills they work on each week. STF leaders enter the program with varying levels of public speaking, project coordination, and presentation experience. The ongoing leadership training provides students with the skills and confidence needed to lead their classmates.
Watch this video from October 2022 explaining how the STF program works with students across the United States and beyond.
(Click to watch, 3:17)
Impact
Since 1999, STF has provided opportunities for students to raise their voices for human rights, educate their communities, and engage in meaningful advocacy. Many alumni have reported that their participation in STF compelled them to prioritize human rights in their careers, including in the public, private and government sectors.
Students Reached During STF Events
Participating Schools Over the Years
Cities Around the World With STF Chapters
Human Rights Advocacy Action Plans
Recent Blog Posts
Step Two: Speaking with Administrators
Now that you’ve read through the SBRR Action Handbook, it’s time to meet with administrators who can help you draft and implement your SBRR, such as your principal, a counselor or dean of discipline. We wanted to share some important tips and questions to keep in mind when organizing these meetings…
Develop Your Student Bill of Responsibilities and Rights
This year, STF Chapters are working with administrators, teachers, students and parents to develop a Student Bill of Responsibilities and Rights (SBRR) that will help their schools become more human rights friendly…
An Advocate’s Toolkit
September 6, 2025: “If you take meaningful action for things you care about most, it all adds up, and collectively, we can make a difference,” said Jo Becker, Human Rights Watch’s Children’s Rights Division Advocacy Director, kicking off the 2025 STF Fall Leadership Workshop…
A Child’s Right to Free Education
This spring, more than 8,100 young people around the world, including students from seven STF Chapters, responded to a request to share why they think young people should have a right to free pre-primary and free secondary education. The OHCHR released a summary of the responses received…
Stepping Up for Human Rights
May 20-June 3, 2025: As the academic year comes to a close, the newest STFers at International School of Prague, Spring Lake Park, and Wauwatosa East high schools created powerful displays to raise awareness about genocide and collected petition signatures to uphold the rights of the unhoused…
This Is Our Moment
June 3, 2025: “We should not underestimate the gravity of this moment. On the contrary. With authoritarianism on the rise, the progress we made over decades to secure fundamental rights for all human beings is under threat. And we must fight back. This is our moment…”
WHAT OUR ALUMNI SAY
“STF changes the world, one outspoken/headstrong student at a time. STF was a cause worth skipping lunch and lying in the grass for; a cause worth the ridicule; a cause worth losing points on a test for, because I spent time strategizing instead of studying. A cause worth anything I could give.”
“The Student Task Force taught me how to be an effective activist while remaining passionate and unafraid. STF taught me to be persistent, even when people didn’t hear us the first, second, or third time. We persevere through our campaigns.”
“STF pushed me to become a more comfortable public speaker and activist. I went from being an introverted and shy freshman to being an outspoken and confident advocate for human rights and environmental justice by the end of my senior year, in large part due to the leadership of the the STF community.”
GET INVOLVED
Empower yourself and make a difference by joining our community of passionate advocates. Click below to learn how you can contribute to advancing human rights and become a voice for justice.