Reporting the underreported about the plan of action for People, Planet and Prosperity, and efforts to make the promise of the SDGs a reality.
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![Education Is the Key to Unlock the Door to Freedom By Professor Ellen Hernandez* The article below explores the importance of education and literacy in the U.S. and Morocco in informing citizens of their rights. COLLINGSWOOD, USA (IDN) — On June 19, 2021, Americans officially recognized “Juneteenth” as a national holiday. Most Americans understand the holiday to be a celebration of the end of slavery brought about by the U.S. Constitution’s 13th Amendment. However, the day is actually a recognition of when a remote enclave of enslaved people were informed of the end of slavery more than two years after its declaration and several months before the last states ratified the amendment. The difference between what many consider the holiday to celebrate and what it truly celebrates might seem negligible to some, yet it is certainly a very important distinction, recognizing both a literal and a symbolic moment for people who had been so long denied the right to physical freedom and human dignity as well as the right to education and literacy. While the Emancipation Proclamation officially outlawing slavery was issued in September 1862, and became effective four months later, it was not until June 19, 1865—two months after the surrender of Confederate forces and the formal end of the U.S. Civil War—that enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, first heard that order of emancipation read aloud by the Union military and became aware that they were free. The following year, freed people in Galveston began what became known as “Jubilee Day,” and observation of the event and its symbolism has grown gradually over the 155 years since then, becoming an officially-recognized federal holiday signed into law in 2021 by President Biden. This holiday brings to mind the ways in which we experience individual freedom. The people of Galveston in 1865 were unaware of the declaration, unaware of the law, unaware of their status. This was not solely because they were in a remote area some distance from the seat of government but also because they lacked the literacy that would have enabled them to read the posted notices. Without information, knowledge, and learning, how is one to know one’s rights and, with those rights, envision a future for oneself? In Morocco, there is a vital code that governs family law but that is not known to all of the people it protects—particularly women—depending on whether they live in rural areas and are literate. The Moudawana (Ar. Mudawwanat al-aHwaal al-shakhSiyyah) is the Personal Status Code that encompasses issues of marriage, divorce, inheritance, self-guardianship, and child custody, among others. While first established in 1958 following the nation’s independence from France, the 2004 reform (also enshrined in the 2011 constitutional revision) addresses women’s rights and gender equality in ways that the original did not. Hence it appeased to some extent those feminist and human rights activist groups calling for more widespread attention to socioeconomic inequality and violence against women, groups such as l'Union de l'Action Féminine (UAF or Women’s Action Union). Life and opportunity are quite different between urban and rural areas of Morocco. Some studies estimate that only about 16 percent of rural women are aware of their rights stipulated in the most recent amendments to the family code whereas 95 percent of urban women know about the code. In fact, five times as many rural women have never heard of it at all. For such women, this lack of awareness is due in a large part to an incomplete formal education since only about one-third of girls continue their schooling beyond primary level and about 60 percent of rural women are not literate. There is a direct correlation between level of education and awareness of rights with 100 percent of those with a secondary education knowing at least something about the Moudawana. Rural women are also less likely to be engaged in local governance or civil society than their urban counterparts and less likely to hold positions in the labor force or have financial independence, all factors that would increase the likelihood of awareness. How does level of awareness impact Moroccan women? To begin, a girl who does not know that the legal age for marriage was raised from 15 to 18 and that she cannot be compelled by her father into a marriage or that she is legally entitled to schooling might believe she has no say over her own future. Likewise, a woman who does not know that she has a right to her financial assets or a right to enter into a business contract without her husband’s permission might not pursue her dream of financial contribution to her family’s income or financial independence for herself and her children. Furthermore, a woman who is unaware of her rights to a divorce or to child custody might remain in a dissatisfying marriage or, worse, continue to be physically or psychologically abused fearing the loss of her children or believing she has no options or protections. There continue to be barriers to the implementation of the laws in rural areas, as one might imagine. These include inadequate training about the reforms for judges in provincial government, paving the way for individual decisions that revert to older customs, and also the presence of a stronger sense of traditionalism. In rural areas, the more immediate everyday needs take precedence, and concepts of legal equality hold a lower priority than food, clean water, adequate housing, and sanitation. The lack of access to education due to distance or finances and its attendant illiteracy coupled with the home languages of the largely Amazigh population in the rural areas concentrated in the Rif and Atlas Mountains additionally prohibit awareness of laws written in formal Arabic. Current efforts to address the lack of awareness are occurring through “Imagine” women’s self-discovery and empowerment workshops led by the High Atlas Foundation, including through its implementation of a Legal Aid clinic in partnership with the Faculty of Social, Juridical, and Economic Legal Studies at University Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah (FSJES-USMBA). The High Atlas Foundation is a Moroccan association and a U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2000 by former Peace Corps Volunteers committed to furthering sustainable development. HAF supports Moroccan communities in implementing human development initiatives by promoting organic agriculture, women’s empowerment, youth development, education, and health. The Legal Aid Clinic (CFJD)—funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the U.S.-Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI)—actively engages students in experiential and service learning for the benefit of marginalized communities in the Fes-Meknes region. Recently, for example, one such workshop was held in Sefrou; these four-day workshops include Moudawana rights-based education in the curriculum. Vulnerable populations such as women and migrants provided with legal assistance and information are more supported in knowing and exercising their rights. To achieve greater gender parity and protection for women, they must first be informed of their rights under the Moudawana. Steady but slow increases in access to formal education must be supported and enhanced to bring the literacy levels of rural women into alignment with their more educated urban peers. Participatory community development that includes women’s empowerment and rights-based education must continue to spread across the nation to give women a voice and a vision and a say over the course of their lives. Training and recruitment and capacity-building must be a priority to increase women’s employment opportunities, and even more importantly for the good of Morocco, presence in economic and political leadership roles. As former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet once remarked, “When one woman is a leader, it changes her. When more women are leaders, it changes politics and policies.” An empowered woman is imbued with self-confidence that benefits her family, her village, and her society. It begins with the knowledge that allows her to imagine her future. [IDN-InDepthNews — 24 June 2021] Ellen Hernandez is a U.S. college English professor and a freelance writer. Photo: President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law, June 17, 2021. Source: Wikimedia Commons. IDN is the flagship agency of the Non-profit International Press Syndicate.](/images/Juneteenth_National_Independence_Day_signed.jpg)
By Professor Ellen Hernandez*
The article below explores the importance of education and literacy in the U.S. and Morocco in informing citizens of their rights.
COLLINGSWOOD, USA (IDN) — On June 19, 2021, Americans officially recognized “Juneteenth” as a national holiday. Most Americans understand the holiday to be a celebration of the end of slavery brought about by the U.S. Constitution’s 13th Amendment.
By Nisar Keshvani
SINGAPORE (IDN) — Imagine. The most remote of mountains. Two thousand metres above sea level. On the Silk Road, and 240 km away from China. In secondary cities with populations going up to 150,000. Therein, majestically stands a fully-residential university, delivering a world-class education for the next generation of Central Asian learners—regardless of their financial position.
On June 19, the University of Central Asia (UCA) made history. Its inaugural cohort of 57 students will graduate in Computer Science; Communications and Media; Economics and Earth and Environmental Science. (P10) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF
Viewpoint by Yossef Ben-Meir
The writer is a former Peace Corps Volunteer and president of the High Atlas Foundation.
MARRAKECH (IDN) — The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are aspirationally universal, addressing globally relevant issues with earnest objectives. Despite the profound good that they represent, fundamental problems exist with the Goals. They lack prescriptiveness, even to the extent of not explicitly aligning with what we know is indelible to sustainability: local people’s participation. (P09) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF
Viewpoint by Simone Galimberti
The writer is Co-Founder of ENGAGE, a not-for-profit in Nepal. He writes on volunteerism, social inclusion, youth development, and regional integration as an engine to improve people’s lives. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
KATHMANDU, Nepal (IDN) — A life insurance policy for humanity, this is how Audrey Azoulay, the UNESCO Director-General defined the scope of all efforts focused on addressing climate change and the persistent degradation of our biodiversity.
By Francis Kinyua*
NAIROBI (IDN) – After being closed for nine months, schools in Kenya reopened to start a new term and resume the school year that was disrupted in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. On the morning of January 4, the streets were swarmed with elated children wearing colourful uniforms marching to their schools. (P29) GERMAN | HINDI | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | THAI
By Caroline Mwanga
NEW YORK (IDN) – United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI), launched in 2010 as an initiative to align colleges and universities with the work of the United Nations, celebrated its 10th anniversary on November 18. The program has more than 1500 members in 147 countries, all applying their academic inquiry, research and innovation to solving some of the world’s greatest challenges while educating the next generation of global leaders.
By Reinhard Jacobsen
BRUSSELS (IDN) – The profound importance of data is underlined by the fact that the United Nations is measuring progress towards the 17 ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the help of a global network working together to ensure the new opportunities of the data revolution.
By Santo D. Banerjee
NEW YORK (IDN) – The world is at risk of suffering “a generational catastrophe”, as COVID-19 wreaks havoc on the education of students globally, the Secretary-General António Guterres has warned.
In a video message to the UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Global Education Meeting (GEM), on October 22, he reminded delegates that the pandemic had had a “disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable and marginalized children and youth”.
GEM was sponsored by Norway, Britain and Ghana.
By Caroline Mwanga
NEW YORK (IDN) – As country lockdowns to prevent the spread of COVID-19 pandemic come to an end, an immediate priority is the fate of 30 million children who may never return to school, warns a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) report.
With this in view, former world leaders, economists and educationalists say in a letter to the Group of Twenty (G20) nations and other countries: "We cannot stand by and allow these young people to be robbed of their education and a fair chance in life." They urge them to take action to prevent the global health crisis creating a "COVID generation" – leaving tens of millions of children with no hope of education.
By Jeffrey Moyo
MUSINA, South Africa (IDN) – His three teenage children play home-made paper ball on the dusty streets of Musina, exercise books scattered on the veranda of their rented home in the South African border town with Zimbabwe. Yet Gerald Gava, the children's 47-year old father, lies on a reed mat spread on the veranda, apparently with nothing to do after he stopped working three months ago as the lockdown took toll on the construction company that employed him.
Gava, who is a migrant from Zimbabwe, said even his children have had to remain home as schools also shut down, thanks to the coronavirus that has pounded the entire globe. (P13) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SWAHILI
