UEF September Community Actions 2026

By Sistah YaYa Marin Coleman

BELIZE CITY, Wed. Sept. 23, 2026

   (The United Black Association for Development Educational Foundation’s (UEF) #bzenaturalhairlaw2024 campaign has been going on for 778 days today, Friday September 25, 2026.)

   On Tuesday, September 15, 2026, UEF organized our first Zoom Community World Afro Day reasoning in Belize, to continue UEF’s awareness about the systemic violations of Belizean students’ rights. The two human rights violations are: Belizean students being denied access to their education, and students being denied their right to culturally express their identity with their hairstyles of choice. UEF’s 1st World Afro Day Zoom Community Reasoning was broadcasted on XTV, and livestreamed on XTV Belize FB and YouTube digital platforms. 

   On September 12, 2025, UEF and other community members met with the then Minister of Education (MoE), Hon. Oscar Requena, and other MoE personnel. Even after that meeting in 2025, UEF continued to receive reports of Belizean students being denied access to their education if they did not follow the colonial hairstyle rules of their schools.

   The current Minister of Education and Culture, Hon. Francis Fonseca, has agreed to meet with UEF and other community members after September 21, 2026. UEF sent the agenda for the meeting which UEF is requesting with Minister Fonseca per his request on Monday August 31, 2026, to him. 

   UEF has continued to alert Belizeans that the Ministry of Education is aware of these two human rights violations, yet these two human rights violations of Belizean students continue.

   You may listen and watch UEF’s 1st World Afro Day Zoom Community Reasoning, which was livestreamed on Tuesday September 15, 2026, the 10th anniversary of World Afro Day, on XTV Belize FB and YouTube digital platforms.