Haiti - FLASH : A student beaten for having been ridden by a Loa during class hours
The National Bureau of Ethnology (BNE) "strongly condemns the revolting behavior of a Fort-Liberté School Director" towards a schoolgirl, but also towards the Vodou religion in Haiti.
"In the most shameful way possible, a schoolgirl was beaten and insulted by her School Director for having been ridden (possessed), during class hours, by a Vodou Spirit (Loa).
The BNE believes that insulting and mistreating a person on the basis of their religion is a disrespect for the right to difference and freedom of religion which is a fundamental right. The behavior of this Director is an act of stigmatization against Vodou. It is also a blow against this endogenous tradition of the Haitian Nation.
The BNE, while presenting its solidarity with the schoolgirl, asks the Ministry of Religion, the Ministry of National Education and the Institute of Social Welfare and Research to protect this child and all those who grew up in the Vodou religion, but also and above all to take strict legal measures against this Director possibly a Pastor too...
While inviting Vodou organizations in the four corners of the country to remain serene and calm, the National Bureau of Ethnology believes that State Institutions will act as quickly as possible against this Director who behaved in the most dishonest way towards the Vodou religion on which the Haitian Nation is built."
