HOMESCHOOLERS FACE PRISON IN
OBAMA'S ISLAND 'PARADISE', 'We know God is
working in our circumstances. We have hope He can and will deliver us', by Bob
Unruh, 4/24/17, WND
Two parents have been summoned to
court this week in Cuba. Their crime? Homeschooling. While President Obama
re-established diplomatic relations with the communist regime, the hoped-for
improvement in human rights hasn’t materialized. And the demand that Ramón
and Adya Rigal appear in Guantanamo District Court because they educated their
children at home is not a good sign, according to experts.
Article 26.3 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights specifies that parents have the right to choose how
to educate their children, but Cuba’s national law still states “education
is a function of the state” and outlines what everyone must learn at a
“minimum.”
The
Home School Legal Defense Association is
defending the Rigals, who are trying to get additional attention from President
Trump’s administration as well as Cuba’s highest authorities.
The parents are scheduled to be in
court Tuesday to face criminal charges for homeschooling their children, ages 8
and 11.
“We will appear and defend our
rights that are protected by the Cuban constitution and treaties that Cuba has
signed,” said Ramón, who is also a pastor, in a statement released through
HSLDA. “The authorities have not acknowledged this, but we will stand on these
rights.”
Mike Donnelly, the director of
global outreach for HSLDA, which is the world’s premiere homeschooling
organization, said it’s a simple matter of international law that parents have
the right “to choose the kind of education their children shall receive.”
The U.N.’s declaration even
recognizes it as a “prior” right that is higher than others.
“When parents choose to home educate
their children they are exercising their own right as well as taking on the
responsibility to provide an education for their children,” he said. “There is
no human rights framework or treaty that recognizes that an education must be
provided by government-controlled schools.”
HSLDA is asking supporters
to sign an online petition directed to
the Cuban embassy in Washington that declares: “A society that forces children
to learn only in public school is totalitarian. The right of people to
establish private schools and to homeschool is a minimum expectation in a free
nation. As Cuban-U.S. relations are normalized, we must ensure that this right
is upheld.”
The petitions calls on Cuba to
immediately acknowledge the “right of parents to homeschool their children and
stop its mistreatment of the Rigal family.”
HSLDA reported the parents are
facing up to eight years in prison, fines and the seizure of their children.
While they already have begun the
process to seek asylum in the U.S., they have “not received any formal response
other than an invitation to an interview with a refugee office that appears to
be part of the U.S. presence in Cuba,” HSLDA said.
If they are in jail, however, they
would be unable to attend the meeting.
“We are willing to sell everything
and leave our country, even though it should be our right to educate our
children,” Ramon told HSLDA. “We are not moved by [the Cuban government’s] way
of thinking. We know that we have the support of many around the world and we
know that God is working in our circumstances. We have hope he can and will
deliver us. We are thankful for HSLDA and the support we are receiving from
many around the world.”
The organization also is working
with members of Congress to bring the case to the direct attention of the
Trump administration, noting the president previously affirmed his support
for a parent’s right to homeschool.
“We need help to bring this matter
before the governments of Cuba and the U.S. We are asking everyone to sign and
share our petition in support of this family. This petition will send a message
to the Cuban ambassador and our elected officials that no family should have to
suffer for choosing to homeschool their children. Parents should be free to
give their children the best possible educational experience,” HSLDA said.
WND
reported the arrest of the
parents Feb. 21. The parents were visited by a team of police officials, a
lawyer and several teachers. “They wanted to impose their position upon us and
gave us a warning notice and told us they would take us before the courts
because of our position on homeschooling,” Ramón said in a statement released
through HSLDA.
“I visited authorities several times
to find a peaceable solution to my problem,” he added. “I brought up the
possibility of homeschooling under their supervision. I was told that if I did,
my wife and I would be imprisoned and our children sent away.”
It was the Municipal Office of
Education in Guantanamo that explained “in our system, homeschooling is not
considered an educational institution, as this term is basically used in
countries with capitalist foundations.”
Cuban officials didn’t respond to
earlier inquiries from Donnelly. He had pointed
out that “as a matter of
international human rights law, the right of parents to choose the kind of
education their children shall receive is recognized as a ‘prior’ right by the
United Nations Declaration on Human Rights in article 26(3).”
Prior to 2014, when Obama and
Raul Castro cut a deal to restore ties with Cuba, there had been no official
contact between the nations in more than 50 years.
http://www.wnd.com/2017/04/homeschoolers-face-prison-in-obamas-island-paradise/
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