Dalits — formerly labelled “untouchables” under India’s caste system — have long faced entrenched social exclusion despite constitutional safeguards. Thus, Poola’s rise is widely seen as a landmark in a society where caste discrimination, though outlawed, remains deeply rooted.

Poola was elevated to the College of Cardinals by Pope Francis in 2022, becoming the first Dalit cardinal in the Catholic Church. His appointment as CBCI president now places him at the forefront of Catholic engagement with the Indian state.

In his first remarks after the vote, Poola described Church leadership as a form of service grounded in listening and dialogue. He pledged to promote unity among India’s diverse Catholic rites and to foster reconciliation in what he called a period of mounting social tension.

The bishops used their annual meeting to issue a pointed defence of constitutional freedoms, warning that religious liberty is under strain. They renewed calls for the repeal of anti-conversion laws enacted in several Indian states.

Those laws criminalise religious conversions alleged to involve coercion, fraud or inducement, and in some states require prior official approval before a person changes faith. Christian leaders say the legislation is frequently used to harass clergy and worshippers through false complaints.

Hindu nationalist groups have long accused Christian missionaries of targeting vulnerable communities for conversion — a charge the Church rejects. Rights advocates say accusations have at times been accompanied by mob violence and arrests carried out without due process.

The bishops also highlighted discrimination faced by Dalit Christians, who are excluded from certain state welfare benefits available to Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist Dalits under India’s reservation system. The exclusion has been contested for decades.

Under a 1950 presidential order, only Dalits belonging to specific religions qualify for “Scheduled Caste” status, granting access to quotas in public employment and education. Christian and Muslim Dalits remain ineligible, despite similar social disadvantage.

Christians account for about 2.3% of India’s 1.4 billion people .

With a Dalit cardinal now leading the episcopal conference, the Church has signalled both an internal reckoning with caste and a renewed appeal for equal protections under India’s secular constitution.

The facility houses 1,755 members of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), one of the largest gangs in the country, all overseen by a security force of 200 soldiers and guards.

“We want to make a request directly to the State, to private companies and public entities: we as prisoners want an opportunity for employment and social reintegration,” Ramiro Oliva, a representative of the inmates who prefers to use a pseudonym, told AFP.

This change in attitude follows the relocation of inmates from the rival Barrio 18 gang to El Pozo prison, which helped reduce violence in La Tolva. Before this move, the prison had witnessed serious clashes, resulting in 24 deaths since its opening in 2017, according to the National Human Rights Commissioner.

Honduras has long struggled with gang violence, prompting a state of emergency in December 2022 that allows for arrests without court orders. The country's homicide rate was reported at 34.5 per 100,000 residents last year, a decrease from 44.7 in 2019, but still significantly high compared to a record 86.5 in 2011.

Lieutenant Colonel Karllthers Medina, the prison director, outlined a rehabilitation program called The Three Rs: rehabilitation, re-education, and reintegration. Launched after President Xiomara Castro ordered increased discipline within the country’s prisons, the program aims to equip inmates with skills to support themselves upon release.

This initiative came in response to a violent incident in which Barrio 18 members killed and burned 46 MS-13 inmates in a women’s prison.

As part of The Three Rs, a group of nine inmates recently delivered 16 chairs to a local school, dressed in orange pants and cream T-shirts.

Inside the prison, around twenty inmates are engaged in making concrete blocks, which are donated to nearby schools. Additionally, about fifty inmates participated in a session on "morals and ethics."

September 26, King Mohammed VI instructed the government to create a commission to reform the code. The decision sparked hope among activists hoping for greater gender equality in the country but concern among conservatives. 

The last reform in 2004, known as Moudawana, was a “quiet revolution” for human rights and gender equality, Moroccan Politician Mohamed Ouzzine said in March of 2023. The reform set the minimum age of marriage for women to 18, restricted polygamy, removed degrading language describing women in the family code, and gave women the right to initiate divorce procedures. 

However, almost 20 years after its adoption, the family code remains rife with legal loopholes that give disproportionately more rights to men, according to NGOs.

The calls to reform the family code gained significant momentum in 2023, as human rights activists rallied in support of a Moroccan actress and a mother.

Jamila El Haouni claims she has been struggling for years with her ex-husband to allow their son to study in a prestigious private school, and more recently, to travel abroad to visit a European football club where he was invited to play a friendly match. Under existing laws, only fathers hold legal custody over children - whether in marriage or after divorce.

Cases of fathers using children to exercise pressure on their ex-wives are of no surprise to lawyers in Morocco. The new reform should “address cases where children are traded in court,” Mohammed Azaroual, a lawyer based in the capital Rabat told Global South World.

“The issue of child custody should be revised,” he said. “Before awarding legal custody to the father, he should be capable of providing psychological, material, and social support, and consultation with psychologists is advised. The same applies to the mother.”

For Azaroual, the current law “is far from safeguarding the Moroccan family from societal shocks in matters of marriage, legal guardianship, inheritance, divorce, and other issues.”

Another crucial issue that is central to the public debate on family code reform is the question of child marriage. The 2004 Moudawana allows underage marriages under “special circumstances,” discretionary authority to the judge.

The provision has long angered human rights activists who demanded stronger laws to protect children. In May of 2022, Justice Minister Abdellatif Ouahbi revealed alarming data on underage marriage in the country, saying that it jumped from 12,000 cases in 2020 to 19,000 in 2021.

Despite the apparent political will from policymakers and activists, the road to reforms is not without challenges. The 2004 changes met with a backlash from Morocco’s more conservative population who considered it as deviating from Sharia law rulings. The current reform is not likely to proceed without challenges, as several prominent online pages are already sounding the alarm over the perceived threat to “Moroccan societal values.”

Despite the anticipated backlash, activists are confident that change is coming for women, they are only hoping it will come soon. “It would be a shame to wait for yet another 20 years for another timid revision,” Moroccan Feminist activist and writer, Fedwa Misk cautioned.