Do not be deterred!
That is the plea from human rights advocate Felicia Dujon to parents of the students who she said were illegally made to do a Computer Science pre-test that contained inappropriate and intrusive questions.
She has been vocal in her call for parents to seek legal action against the Government for its role in facilitating the survey that was administered by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and quizzed students about their sexuality and gender identity, among other things.
And ten days after the matter was brought to light by Barbados TODAY, Dujon has urged Barbadians not to be distracted.
Delivering the Democratic Labour Party’s (DLP) Astor B Watts Lunchtime Lecture on Friday afternoon, entitled ‘Not Bout Hay’: Parental Rights as Human Rights, she said it was now the job of parents to ensure the matter was properly dealt with.
“….It is very important that we focus and stay focused on the issues at hand and not be deterred, because it is very important and this is a very serious matter. This is a very serious human right and parental right violation that we all should stand up for because we are all parents, whether it is through biological or through community, and we have that right to speak up and stand up,” the lecturer in Philosophy at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus said.
“It’s now important that we hold those responsible accountable. You [Government] have signed those treaties on our behalf, which means that you can be held accountable for them. You have signed those human rights treaties [and] you will be held accountable if any of those treaties are breached as a people.
“We can’t take advantage of children because we feel they may not be able to speak out, and I’m so proud of them that they spoke up and challenged the adults. Had they not done that, we would have never known. They knew their rights were being violated and I urge parents to stand with them. They came to you for a reason, they knew something was wrong, stand up with them. Do not be deterred,” she insisted.
Dujon further suggested that blame was being unfairly shifted on the children who took the highly contentious pre-test.
She said the argument was being made by some people that nothing was wrong with the questions on the test taken by first-form students at five secondary schools since children were exposed to similar material on television and social media.
Dujon maintained that the authorities who administered the test to the 11-year-olds are the ones solely to blame.
“What we are doing indirectly – and those persons who are doing that have to be very careful – is that we are saying it is the children’s fault that they got the survey. Why? Because they are old enough, they are mature enough, they should be able to read that.
“We’re placing the blame the wrong places. It should be redirected to the adults that are responsible for them. It should not be our concern as to what level of maturity or whether the children are aware of it or not. We are shifting blame, that’s what we’re doing. So now, we’re making the children responsible by saying, ‘oh, they should have known that anyway’. It’s not going to happen,” Dujon insisted.
(randybennett@barbadostoday.bb)
