Mary Shuttleworth, a native South African, founded Youth for Human Rights International in 2001 and serves as its International Director.

She has traveled extensively through Asia, Africa, Europe and South America, witnessing firsthand the atrocities that pass for human rights in today's societies.

Her solution is education. She has founded two private schools in Los Angeles and numerous community outreach projects, all in addition to spearheading the Youth for Human Rights movement as an educational force in five continents. In 2003, she was officially recognized as an Ambassador for Peace on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.