Girls still do not have the same educational opportunities as boys

Since 1990, the gender gap in access to education has been reduced by almost half thanks to a coordinated approach between the United Nations, NGOs and governments. Today, there are almost as many girls as boys enrolled in primary school.

However, access to secondary school, and a fortiori to higher education, is still not guaranteed for girls, deplores Plan International. In some countries where the NGO is present, such as Tanzania, Mali, Uganda or Rwanda, there are sometimes 10% more boys enrolled in school than girls, points out the organization, citing a Unesco report published in 2022.

Moreover, registering a girl at the beginning of the year on the school lists does not mean that she goes to class every day, nor that she completes her studies. On the way to school, many are in fact harassed or abused, which can discourage their parents from sending them. The lack of hygiene in the toilets is another obstacle: girls more often miss classes when they are paid. Absent one week a month, they quickly fall behind their male comrades.

More generally, gender stereotypes still wreak havoc: if it is the man who is supposed to work to feed the family, the education of girls is not considered a priority. “Even today, generation after generation, women remain prisoners of a role that was assigned to them: that of housewives”, denounces Plan International.

The NGO therefore calls for intensified efforts to guarantee freedom of education for all girls throughout the world. Because “a better future for every child starts with offering them all the same opportunities”.

The government undermines the foundations of the rule of law, denounces the LDH in its 2022 report

In 2022, Belgium sat on a very large number of court decisions, ignoring the rules of the rule of law, alarmed Tuesday in its annual report the League of Human Rights (LDH). “This is a worrying turn, which destabilizes the foundations of our democracy”, she comments, describing as “bad” the general climate for human rights.

The League takes as an example the reception crisis which has lasted for more than a year. “International protection seekers are left on the street by Fedasil completely illegally”, the agency takes refuge behind the saturation of the network.

Last year, however, Fedasil – and therefore ultimately the Federal State – was condemned thousands of times by Belgian courts but also by the European Court of Human Rights, which ordered it to “fulfill its obligations and to receive persons seeking international protection”. Despite this, the penalty payments were not paid and the vast majority of successful claimants remained on the street.

“In the reception crisis, the government allowed itself to deliberately violate the right to reception of thousands of people who were indisputably entitled to it”, regrets Pierre-Arnaud Perrouty, director of the Human Rights League

The LDH also pinpoints the perilous balance of powers in Belgium, and in particular the control of the legislative power over the executive. The League criticizes in particular the file of Walloon weapons exported to countries which do not respect the conditions laid down by the Walloon decree. The external control of the police force, operated by Committee P under the authority of Parliament, is also singled out.

“In an unprecedented way, the government has turned its back on a very large number of court decisions”, takes offense at the League, which recalls that the principle of separation of powers is essential to the functioning of democracy.

If the fact of winning justice is no longer enough to force the authorities to change their practices, it should not be surprising to see the multiplication of actions of civil disobedience, whether directed against private or state actors, warns the League.