Hijab, CAN and religious tolerance By Dauda Ayanda

On September 11, 2003, two teachers at the Franklin Science Academy in Muskogee, Oklahoma, were discussing the terrorist attacks that had occurred exactly two years earlier, when they spotted a sixth grader, Nashala Hearn, wearing a Muslim headscarf.

The school’s dress code prohibited students from wearing “hats, caps, bandanas, plastic caps, or hoods on jackets inside the building.” One of the teachers sent Nashala to the principal, who warned and later suspended the eleven-year-old when she continued to wear the scarf. The school attorney said, “You treat religious items the same as you would any other item, no better or worse. Our dress code prohibits headgear, period.” The school was willing to articulate the Establishment Clause argument against its initial antagonist, the Rutherford Institute, a Christian civil liberties foundation that assisted the Hearns in filing their complaint in a federal court. 

When the US Justice Department intervened by filing additional briefs against the school in the spring of 2004, however, the school quickly caved in.
Under a settlement agreement, the school agreed to change the dress code so as to include an accommodation, or exception, for religious headgear (hijab). The school also paid an undisclosed sum of monetary damages to the Hearn family. In response, Assistant Attorney General Alexander Acosta issued a public statement that “This settlement reaffirms the principle that public schools cannot require students to check their faith at the schoolhouse door.”

Ban Ki-moon praises Cuba's efforts in promoting women rights, social development

Cuba has made remarkable efforts in promoting social development and gender equality in the Caribbean nation, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said here Monday.

Ban arrived in Havana earlier in the day to attend the Second Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, or CELAC for its initials in Spanish, as a special guest and to meet with Cuban authorities and representatives of civil societies.

During a meeting at the National Center for Sex Education (Cenesex), the secretary-general praised the Cuban government's support for "Unite", a UN-backed campaign aimed at ending violence against women. He also lauded the support given by civil societies in defense of women's rights.

Ban said he was touched and inspired by each action and initiative carried out in Cuba, noting that eradicating violence against women is not a dream but a possibility.

During the meeting, Mariela Castro Espin, director of Cenesex and a deputy in parliament, presented Ban symbolic certificates from his institution to commend the UN chief's promotion of the Unite campaign.

The last UN secretary-general who had visited Cuba was Kofi Annan in 2006 for a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement.

CELAC, founded in February 2010 grouping 33 member countries, seeks to deepen political, economic, social and cultural integration in Latin America and the Caribbean.

CCTV