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migrant children. Classes to support migrant children, including language classes, are
also being organized. 105
68. In Senegal, education is compulsory between the ages of 6 and 16, and all children
living in Senegalese territory have access to the education system. Schools do not have
any obligation to inform the authorities about the migration status of their pupils. 106 In
Thailand, at least 160,000 migrant children were enrolled in Thai schools in 2019. 107
69. Further efforts are being made to assist migrant children in overcoming
language and other barriers. Portugal, for instance, has implemented educational
support policies for the acquisition of Portuguese as a second language in primary
and secondary education to ensure the educational success of migrant students, no
matter their mother tongue, origin and age. 108 Similar approaches have also been
developed in Finland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom by providing
individualized learning plans in the formal education system for newly arrived
migrant children, tailored to the child’s specific needs and profile. 109
70. To ensure that the migration status of a child is never a barrier to accessing services,
Portugal has launched a “go-to-school” programme designed to regularize young children
who were born in Portugal to migrant parents and attend State schools, but who are not
lawfully staying in the country, granting residence permits directly at school. Similarly,
in the Republic of Korea, migrant children are able to receive compulsory public
education regardless of their parents’ migration status. The Ministry of Justice also has
in place an internal guideline that provides undocumented migrant children with a
suspension of deportation until they complete elementary, middle and high school.
Parents of such children are, “in principle, subject to deportation but are provided
suspension of detention and temporary residence in unavoidable circumstances”. 110
Access to health-care services
71. Colombia 111 and Spain 112 have explicit provisions in their legislation that
emphasize universal access to the national health-care system, irrespective of
migratory status. The Danish Immigration Service covers the expenses for necessary
health treatments. All children accommodated at reception, accommodation and
return centres receive the same health treatment as Danish children. 113 In Morocco,
migrants have access to free basic health care, as Moroccan nationals do. 114
Furthermore, a number of countries, some at the city level, have developed practices
ensuring that migrants, including children, have meaningful access to health -care
services. Among the advances made on this front is the provision of health care
beyond emergency care, including for migrants in an irregular situation, in cities in
Germany, Italy and Norway. Several local authorities have also played a critical role
in ensuring the affordability of health care and services for migrants in cities such as
Vienna, Düsseldorf (Germany), Utrecht (Netherlands) and Trondheim (Norway). 115
72. Including the entire population in the health-care system has a positive impact on
public health and is in the best interests of the community as a whole, notably by limiting
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106
107
108
109
110
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Submission by Morocco.
Submission by Senegal.
Submission by the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institu te.
CCPR/C/PRT/5, para. 43.
UNHCR, UNICEF and IOM, “Access to education for refugee and migrant children”.
Submission by the Network for the Rights of Children and Adolescents with Migrant Back ground.
Submission by Colombia.
Submission by Accem and Fundación Cepaim, Spain.
Submission by Denmark.
Submission by Morocco.
United Nations Human Rights Regional Office for Europe, Promising local practices for the
enjoyment of the right to health by migrants, 2019.
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