In November 2007, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the 20th of February as World Day of Social Justice. World Day of Social Justice is an international day recognizing the need to promote social justice, which includes efforts to tackle issues such as poverty, exclusion, gender inequality, unemployment, human rights, and social protection.
To commemorate the World Day of Social Justice, the Network of Youth for Sustainable Initiative-NGYouthSDGs organised an Instagram live event with the theme: Building Fairer and More Equitable Societies. The event aimed to discuss actionable steps that young people can take to build a more equitable society that ensures equal access to opportunities. Additionally, it provided a platform for creative changemakers such as spoken word artists, writers, poets and musicians to share their thoughts on social justice.
The interactive discussion started with Ocheche Johnson, the Operations Associate of NGYouthSDGs and the event moderator, sharing that social justice is the belief that everyone should have equal economic, political, and social rights and opportunities. The goal of building a fairer and more equitable society is to ensure that everyone, including those in marginalized communities, has access to opportunities such as decent work, economic growth, and education.
During a panel session, Deborah Johnson – a spoken word performance artist and NGYouthSDGs Champion – discussed how creative changemakers can use arts to drive social justice. She emphasized that advocating for social justice starts with individual decisions to show more kindness and willingness to look out for others, not just oneself. Deborah poetically described social justice as a veil covering the universe with many tears on it, and citizens collectively taking action to repair the veil. She also stressed that art has the power to affect social change, and creative changemakers should not give up on using it to drive social justice because art is a seed that eventually grows in people’s hearts.
As part of the session, the moderator presented a response from the survey form we sent out pre-event to get individual experiences of social injustice. In the survey, a young Nigerian living with a disability appealed for a more inclusive society that would ensure people with disabilities are not excluded from accessing job opportunities.
Praise Okezie, the Communications Associate of NGYouthSDGs added to the live session by offering actionable steps to building fairer and more equitable society. She emphasized that social justice is crucial in driving the Sustainable Development Goals, which seek to “leave no one behind.” This underscores the need for every individual to take action towards achieving social justice.
The actionable steps include:
- Practicing daily inclusive habits to ensure that the marginalized individuals in our communities are not left behind.
- Participating in public and private dialogues which will offer young people an opportunity to seek the perspectives of stakeholders and the people around them on how to achieve equal access to opportunities.
- Upholding morality over religious or cultural bias.
- Identifying and bridging gaps to equal access to opportunities by speaking up and raising awareness.
The live session provided young people with an opportunity to share their views on social justice and their experiences of social injustice through a survey form shared before the event and during the live session.
Access the replay here.
