Cordilleran Youth Center (CYC)

The indigenous people of Cordillera live in the Northern Luzon Island of the Philippines. The region has experienced large scale, politically motivated conflicts in the last few years, affecting several women human rights defenders and youth human rights groups in the Cordillera. The Cordilleran Youth Center is an organization that works to strengthen the rights of the people in the region through youth mobilization. The initiative they propose aims to further integrate the voice of young indigenous women into discussions that deal with issues that directly affect them and their communities. They hope to encourage women and youth to provide recommendations and suggestions to laws, policies, and programs to the local and national governments to ensure their needs are met.

CYC seeks N-Peace’s support in rolling out a region-wide conference in Cordillera, Aba province and Baguio city, as well as an online exchange network that will help facilitate discussion on the rights and responsibilities of Cordillerans. The initiative will help document human rights violations in the area and be an easily-accessed information repository. The conference will focus on information sharing and the promotion of peace, particularly how indigenous women and youth leaders can defend their organisations and communities from human rights violations.