UNESCO recognizes Cuba’s educational accomplishments

• The country’s population has the highest educational level in Latin America

By LINET PERERA NEGRÍN

Herman van Hooff, director of UNESCO’s regional cultural office, reported February 5 that Cuba’s accomplishments in implementing the United Nations ‘Education for All’ (EFA) objectives are recognized worldwide.

The six objectives include expansion of early childhood care and education; provision of universal free and compulsory primary education; opportunities for young people and adults to learn life skills; the development of adult literacy, gender parity and quality education.

 

The ‘Education for All’ effort guided by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is directed toward meeting universal educational needs. Progress toward meeting the objectives was described in UNESCO’s 11^th report on teaching and learning 2013-2014, recently shared in Havana.

Van Hooff assured Granma that he is pleased with Cuba’s accomplishments and mentioned several of the country’s outstanding achievements such as the early childhood education program Educa a tu hijo, quality primary education and Cuba’s renowned adult literacy campaign.

He emphasized that Cuba has the highest EFA Development index (EDI) in Latin America and the Caribbean. The rating is a composite figure based on progress on four of the six EFA goals. These are the objectives focused on universal primary education, adult literacy, quality of education and gender equity, selected given the availability of data in these areas.

The report also highlighted the fact that, among all countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Cuba dedicates the highest percentage of its Gross Domestic Product to education, 13%.

Despite progress made in several countries, the report concludes that the basic EFA goals will not be achieved and that the issue of education must be a central priority on the UN’s post-2015 development agenda.

February 06, 2014

Granma.cu

Honduras: UN officials sound alarm over crackdown on freedoms

2 October 2009 – The head of the United Nations agency tasked with upholding the freedom of expression today led a chorus of UN voices expressing concern over the suppression of civil liberties in Honduras following a coup d’état in the Central American country in June.

Since the return of ousted President José Manuel Zelaya to Honduras on 21 September, authorities have declared a state of emergency, suspending freedom of opinion and expression, movement and association.

“I am deeply concerned about the situation in Honduras,” said UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura.

“Freedom of expression is a particularly important human right that must be preserved if a durable solution, acceptable to all, is to be found to the crisis,” stressed Mr. Matsuura.

The authorities who took power in June have issued a decree sanctioning the suspension of any media outlet that “attacks peace or public order,” or that broadcasts messages that “offend human dignity, officials, threatens the law or government resolutions” after Mr. Zelaya returned to Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, and sought shelter in the Brazilian embassy.

“It is important that political tensions in the country be resolved in a manner that is mindful of the rights of citizens to engage in informed debate,” said Mr. Matsuura in a message calling on authorities to reconsider their position in the light of democratic principles.

A group of independent UN human rights experts noted that the decree also allows the police to repress all non-authorized public meetings or demonstrations, and had resulted in the deaths of five people in the last few rallies, including an 18-year-old youth.

“It is worrying that police and military officers are resorting to the use of excessive force, including beatings and shootings, in order to dissolve street protests,” the group of four experts said in a joint news release.

“The result of these interventions has been large-scale detentions, in some cases in non-authorized detention facilities, where those arrested run the risk of being subjected to torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,” the experts added.

The group of experts, who report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on an unpaid basis, consisted of El Hadji Malick Sow, Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; Margaret Sekaggya, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Frank La Rue, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and Manfred Nowak, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

UN News

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