Complaint of Racial Discrimination; Complainant (Teboh Glotilde Anwi) v. Members (Professors) of ULB Brussels and UNIA Brussels to United Nation Human Rights Council
Teboh Glotilde Anwi
Rue Montagne aux Anges 24/1
1081 Koekelberg / Brussels - Belgium
Tel. +32 (0)498 63 96 60
Email: tebohclo@gmail.com
Glotilde.anwi.teboh@ulb.be
September 28th, 2020.
Attention to:
Mr. António Guterres
Ms. Michelle Bachelet
Ms. Brands Kehris
Ms. Audrey Azouley
New York Head Office
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations
New York, NY 10017
United States of America
Complaint of Racial Discrimination
Complainant v. Members (Professors) of ULB Brussels and UNIA Brussels.
Dear Her Excellency Ms. Bachelet, High Commissioner for Human Rights,
Dear Her Excellency Ms. Brands Kehris, Secretary General For Human Rights,
Dear Her Excellency Ms. Audrey Azouley, Director General of UNESCO,
Dear His Excellency Mr. António Gutterres, UN Secretary General,
I have the honour most respectfully, humbling drawing your attention to my problem, seeking your urgent intervention. Kindly allow this letter to serve as my re-confirmation complaint of discrimination against the former rector Prof. Yvon Englert of the Université Libre de Brussels - Belgium and other professors implicated in case, of address CP130, Avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50, 1050 Brussels - Belgium. Their names are:
1. Prof. Dr. Yvon ENGLERT Recteur (Former Rector of ULB (Université Libre de Bruxelles)
2. Prof. Alain LEVEQUE (VICE-RECTEUR)
3. Prof. Andrea REA Former Dean (Doyen de Faculté de Philosophie et Sciences Sociales)
4. Prof. Valérie PIETTE Dean Doyenne de Faculté de Philosophie et Sciences Sociales).
5. Prof. Cécile VANDERPELEN
6. Prof. Monique WEIS
7. Prof. Sylvie PEPERSTRAETE
8. Prof. Pierre PETIT
9. Madame Amandine MATHY
10. Madame Marie DEJEANS
11. Prof. Jean-Philippe SCHREIBER
12. Prof. Esteban Martinez
13. Prof. Viviane Vanne
14. Madame Charlotte CLAS
15. Madame Lucy VAN HOVE
And UINA (For Equality and Against Discrimination Brussels - Belgium) of address Rue Royale 138, 1000 Brussels – Belgium.
I hereby declared that, these above mentioned individuals are fully aware of the Universal Declarations of Human Rights, Adopted and opened for signature and ratification by General Assembly resolution 2106 (XX) of 21 December 1965, entry into force 4 January 1969, in accordance with Article 19, and Convention Against Discrimination: Adopted by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on 14 December 1960: Entry into force: 22 May 1962, in accordance with Article 14, have wilfully, consciously decided to engage in behaviours that have subjected me to desperate treatment thereby rendering me their victim which is illegal factors and they should be held responsible for their actions as they violated my human rights.
As a reminder, I have send letters to your good offices at Geneva as recommendation postal mails. I have send emails as well. The last recommendation letter I send, was dated the 27th May, 2020 requesting your urgent intervention, hoping for a solution before the end of the academy year 2019-2020. I have received no reply or communication from your office. We are in a new academic school year 2020-201. It should be recalled that last school year was a complete disaster as I was blocked and still blocked. It is my hope that your good offices which uphold the values and moral authority of the United Nations Human Rights and dignity investigate my complaint and take action. This is the reason why I am drawing upon your independence, impartiality and integrity for you to intervene, taking all the appropriate decisions you deem necessary and helpful with the sole aim of justice to prevail. It is my wish and desire to complete my studies in a peaceful, respectful atmosphere this year. I have therefor decided to humbly contact you, through the head office at New York, because I am not sure why the office in Geneva is not reacting.
To recall, my complaint against discrimination includes the following;
I am currently a student, at Université Libre de Brussels, a Belgian by nationality, of African origin, precisely Cameroon. Studying: “Master En Sciences du Travail, à finalité Genre et Inégalité. » It is remaining only the thesis.
It all started in 2017 when I complaint (racial discrimination) against Prof. Viviane Vanne, who did not only harassed me in emails, but worsened it, by harassing and humiliating me in class, in the presence of the other students she used racists slurs, by characterising me as “students of my category never dares to oppose or object the decision of professor.” She did this continuously such that a class colleague had to speak out against the mean behaviour of Prof. Viviane Vanne. I was obliged to complaint officially.
It should be recalled that there is no decision as of date on the complaint I made against professor Viviane Vanne in 2017. I was instead targeted by other professors with the former rector Prof. Yvon Englert as head of the team. I am subjected to horrific disparate treatment leading to a hostile study environment at ULB (Université Libre de Bruxelles) and finally failed unjustly as my thesis was rejected on the 6th of September 2019 the defence set date. The reasons why my correct work was rejected is not made known to me, despite my numerous continuous requests to know the why, it became clear and obvious the horrific treatment I am subjected to, I believed is motivated by the colour of my skin and race and to add as a means to punishing me for having justly complaint against professor Viviane Vanne. It is obvious from the horrific treatment that, with skin colour like my own and race, the school rules and regulations do not apply as my case is leaving me with the feeling of rejection and not even tolerated.
I was failed unjustly by Prof. Cécile Vanderpelen acting as my promoter in 2018 for a 15 pages thesis proposal. She graded it 04/20 during the first session exams with the remark that the work was not scientific and methodology was not clear without precisely giving an example of what must be corrected as indicated in the school rules and regulations or as my supervisor. During the second exams session, professor Cécile Vanderpelen still insisted on the fact that the work was not scientific. I insisted to know the reasons and what she meant by not scientific. I was amazed when she said because “I quoted Mercy Amba Oduyoye and in ULB she is not considered as a scholar and by me mentioning her the work isn’t scientific. To add, she indicated that: “I mentioned god in the research question and in ULB one can’t talk about God.” Prof. Petit Pierre and Prof. Monique Weis both signed the 06/20 for the second session. I requested re-evaluation for my work according to article 70 of school rules. This was rejected and the faculty assigned a new promoter to me. For the same work, with the new promoter, Mercy Amba Oduyoye was not a problem, neither was there any scientific issue or methodology or god an issue and same work was 13.5/20. Even though professor Jean-Philippe Screiber attempted to discredit the same work, by stating that, the bibliography is theology citing the book of Mercy Amba Oduyoye, I validated the course despite his racist slurs on Mercy Amba Oduyoye that looks like me. The others professors who are not racists gave me just grade such that I had an average of 13.5/20.
Prof. Cécile Vanderpelen after unjustly failing me during the first session exam, obliged me, to follow a preparatory seminar course on how to write a thesis, so that the scientific nature of the work and methodology should be corrected under the tutoring of Madam Amandine Mathy and Madam Marie Dejeans. Madam Mathy and Dejeans, did not see any problem with the work and it was strange to them it was graded 04/20. Accordingly, they told me, the work was good and they cannot help further, but since I am obliged to follow the course, they suggested I follow the general rules of the course as the other students. According to the rule, we have to write a 7 page thesis proposal which will be developed further into 15 pages with promoter. For my case, they suggested I should either re consider writing another 7 page thesis proposal or I could summarize the 15 pages I had into 7 pages and they will grade me on it. I wrote another seven page article, submitted on time, requested feedback and nothing till present. Other students had feedback, I was failed and forced to re take the course. When I presented myself in class, I was chased out of the class by Madam Mathy, who said, the reason why I did not have any feedback was because Prof. Monique Weis had instructed, they should not give me any feedback and they took a sanction against me, never to allow me in class, and for that reason, my presence is a sort of disturbance and I should walk out, madam Mathy said. While for Madam Dejeans, she had preferred I stay in the class since I must retake the course while a decision be sought eventually. There was a conflict between Madam Mathy and Dejeans, for me to stay in class or walk out which was very embarrassing and finally madam Dejeans said, since her colleague madam Mathy cannot support my presence in class I should walk out. This was not only embarrassing but humiliating. I politely walk out, feeling embarrassed and humiliated.
When I send a message to professor Monique Weis to notify her about the incident, she characterized me as aggressive, asking me never to go the class for I already passed and the next day I had a convocation to appear before the disciplinary commission. The convocation was not clear to me however, I went and I presented the facts at the disciplinary commission. It seems they were looking for a way to expel me, unfortunately, they did not find any. I was given a sanction “Amonestation” by the former Dean Prof. Andrea Rea. I had requested a motivation on this sanction according to school rules on commission of disciple article 20, 21, and 22, and for the procedures for both internal and external appeal to be stated and got no reply till date. The former rector Prof. Yvon Englert knows of this and said nothing.
Further, I had to do a traineeship, Prof. Cécile Vanderpelen obliges me to do almost double the normal duration. I had requested that, the duration be corrected, professor Cécile Vanderpelen told me, she does not think I can success because I will spend the rest of my time complaining and refused correcting the duration. Refused to reply the email I had send. The secretariat of traineeship contacted her, both on phone and email for the duration to be corrected, however she refused. I contacted Prof. Jean-Philippe Schreiber, the coordinator of traineeship who equally refused correcting the duration, re-directing me back to Prof. Cécile Vanderpelen for correction. All of these, they are doing it consciously to frustrate me, because of my skin colour and race, and for the simple reasons I have no rights to complaint against professor Viviane Vanne which is illegal factors.
In addition, for a seminar course given by Prof. Monique Weis and Prof. Sylvie Peperstraete, we were 6 students and I was the only one that looks like me. We were requested to write a reflection paper, without following the criteria of an academic scientific paper, without the state of art, with very limited bibliography not necessary a bibliography list, two or three articles cited was good to make the article scientific. During the gradings, the rules changed for me and I was graded 06/20. When the other classmates requested to know if I passed, I told them I got the instructions wrong. They could not believe me, so I had to show them the email I got from Prof. Sylvie Peperstraete with modified instructions meant for me alone. It was a turning phase as they were also shocked, they rules had changed only for me, and I completely felt different in their midst, such that I was wondering if actually I am a real human being or something should be wrong with my personality.
I then decided to complain officially to the former rector Prof. Yvon Englert who took four months to reply telling me the other students had no difficulties with the instruction given. However, forgetting to take into considerations that, the other students are not from same race like myself nor do they have same skin colour like me and the instructions had changed for me alone. I courageously, recontacted the professors in charge, we both agreed to record the discussion, and Prof. Sylvie Perpestraete admittedly said, the rules had somehow changed. I made just minor changes, re-submitted same paper and they graded 10/20.
I had contacted UNIA, requesting they should support me and defend me so that I should complete my studies in a peaceful – respectful atmosphere and get the former rector reply to me. When I got the reply of the rector, I forwarded it to UNIA for intervention. Madam Emile Van de Broeck called me on phone and said, she feel so sorry for me, though I am a victim, UNIA cannot defend or support me, because ULB is their financial partner and UNIA must protect ULB. She added that I should never contact UNIA if it concerns ULB and brutally hanged up the phone. Then Ms. Emile send me an email closing my file with remarks that got nothing to do with my request. It should be recalled that, Ms Cristel of UNIA, who opened my case file with UNIA had told me, the rector must apply internal disciplinary sanctions to all the professors concern. This was her hope for she feared, if the former rector is implicated, then UNIA must protect and defend ULB because ULB is their financial partner and they must avoid scandal.
In contributing to the horrific treatment I am subjected to, Prof. Esteban Martinez unjustly failed me in his course Sociologie du Travail. During feedback, he could not believe I was the one behind the name Teboh Glotilde as I am a serious student always presence in class. He admittedly told me, I have answered 3 out of 4 questions very excellent and the fourth average, and for him to grade me 06/20 is not only unjust but wicked and I should forgive me. I requested the correct grades should be given, he refused and obliged me to re-take the course, which I did and passed.
Finally, my thesis I did under the supervision of Prof. Michel Sylin, an experienced professor of plus 20 years experienced, who gave his authorization for the work to be submitted, and congratulated me after submission, on the defence day 6th September, 2019 was rejected by the corrector, a Ph.D researcher and lecturer Madam Lucy Van Hove. I was chased out of the defence room in a very humiliating manner by Madam Lucy Van Hove when I requested to know what I must do as correction for the work to be accepted. I had send an email to my promoter, copied to Madam Lucy Van Hove to know the why my work was rejected, till date no reply.
My continue quest to know the why my work was rejected, unveiled that fact that, I have been targeted and subjected to desperate treatment and hostile studying environment based on illegal factors: my skin colour and race for having complaint against Prof. Viviane Vanne.
From the discussion I had with professor Esteban Martinez during an appointment in October 2019, the former rector Prof. Yvon Englert, I had instructed that my work must be rejected and gave the authority to Madam Lucy Van Hove to convince my promoter. Prof. Esteban Martinez had let me to understand that, he cannot do anything to change the situation and even if I write another thesis, it will be rejected and I will never graduate, because this decision is already taken. He let me to understand that in cases like my own, professors are not obliged to state why the work is rejected and the school rules and regulations do not apply to students of my category. This confirm the reasons why I had requestion article 70 of school rules and regulation as an alternative solution for a college of professors to be elected to re-evaluate my work since articles 88 and 89 could not be respected. Prof. Valérie PIETTE the current dean of the faculty, rejected my request, intimidated me, threatening with disciplinary sanction of article 2. For, Prof. Esteban, there is nothing he could do to help the situation, citing he failed me, and had finally passed me. He added that my situation is very complicated because the decision is coming from above, that is from the former rector and he is only acting as the communicator – to communicate the decision taken to me. He added that we are in Belgium and no lawyer will dare take up the case, if I want to go to court and even if I success to get a lawyer, he said I cannot win in the court of law in Belgium because ULB is an institution and it is protected by world organisations and institutions. He said I will end up worsening my situations and will be blocked in life if I continue asking the question why my work was rejected. He said, he’s afraid for me, I will never get the answer and I should stop asking why. For him, the best advice he could give me is to drop schooling since I already had other certificates.
I wrote to the rector, who took plus 2 months to reply me with all sorts of intimidations and threats addressed by the vice rector, professor Alain Leveque. In the reply I got, signed by prof. Alain Leveque, it wasn’t clear, to who the 00/20 was attributed to, so I send a reply on the 26th December 2019, till date, there is no answer.
Worried not to lose my student rights without graduating and refusing such a humiliating failure, I wrote to the minister of higher education. I was shocked, the former rector Prof. Yvon Englert, got his lawyer (Maître Patricia Minsier) to write me with no legal base, intimating me, for a letter I had wrote and addressed to the minister of higher education. This act of the former rector Prof. Yvon Englert through Maître Patricia Minser demonstrates the determination and motivation of the former rector Prof. Yvon Englert to frustrate my educational career and rape me off my human rights, dignity and educational rights.
It is cleared and evident that, the former rector of ULB Professor Yvon Englert knows of racism and discrimination, abuse of power by certain professors and he failed to take prompt action to solve the situation. Professor Yvon Englert, is acting as the cornerstone to racism in ULB as he condoned, ratified, promote the continuation of racism and discrimination in ULB, shamelessly, openly, confidently and rudely. He and all the members mentioned are liable.
I have done everything to the best of my knowledge, internally at the university and externally within Belgium so that a peaceful solutions be reached for me to complete my studies to no avail. It is not my wish at this moment, in this academic year 2020-2021 to engage in any form of confrontation with the above mentioned who have rendered me their victim as most of them are still actively in their functions. It is not also my wish to try to get other members implicated or to make me feel rejected – stigmatized. The reason why Madam Charlaotte Claes name is here, is for the fact that, she does not want to be implicated in my case, when I send her messages, she will not answer, when I go to her office, she will abandoned me there politely leaving me with the feeling of rejection. I do not hope and it is not my wish to waste this academic year without graduating. This is why I am humbling seeking your urgent intervention for justice to prevail.
I am humbling requesting that, my correct grades should be given, the professor title given to Madam Lucy Van hove must be investigated, (see email from vice rector dated 23rd Dec. 2019), the extra days and hours I was obliged to do during my traineeship should be compensated same as the article I wrote, 7 pages without feedback. All the professors implicated as mentioned in the complaint, should be investigated and they should each and individually take the responsibility of their actions and face the consequences. UNIA should be sanctioned accordingly for refusing to support and defend me.
Recalling that I have requested to Her Excellency Ms. Audrey Azouley, the Director General Of UNESCO, to file a complaint on my behalf at the International Court of Justice against the former rector of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Prof. Yvon Englert for violating my Rights to Education, as in Article 8 of Convention Against Discrimination: Adopted by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on 14 December 1960: Entry into force: 22 May 1962, in accordance with Article 14. The sole aim of the request is my quest to get justice done in order to complete my studies in a peaceful respectful atmosphere. If this is the best possible solution, I thereby reaffirm my request in this letter.
I am confident and I trust that you will grant all the appropriate support which you deem necessary and appropriate for this case and for JUSTICE. Thank You.
With Kindest Regards,
Glotilde.
Enclosures: 113 pages and CD. with a pdf format of the thesis.
PS: sending as recommendation postal mails to:
New York Office: Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, NY 10017, USA.
UNESCO : 1, rue Miollis 75732 Paris Cedex 15 France.
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