A/HRC/7/19/Add.5 A/HRC/7/23/Add.3 Page 23 be repatriated by the migration authorities: “Our approach is that we do not agree with family separation. The migration authority will not repatriate those with roots in the Dominican Republic”. 2. Education 82. Numerous young people of Haitian descent, born in the Dominican Republic reported that it is not possible for them to obtain the required cédula, and hence impossible for them to pursue their education beyond the sixths grade or enter university. There is also some indication that a birth certificate is requested of students who register for primary school. Some expressed deep frustration, noting that they wanted to study, gain skilled work and make a full contribution to Dominican society as Dominicans, but were being prevented from doing so, with implications for their sense of identity as Dominicans, despite having spent their lives in the Dominican Republic. 83. A student of Haitian descent in Santo Domingo reflected a concern raised by numerous individuals: “I have asked for a cédula several times. My father is Haitian but legally in the country for 35 years. My mother is Dominican and I was born here. I want to go to university and work but I can’t without a cédula. I don’t know any more whether I am Dominican or Haitian”. 84. Representatives of the Ministry of Education and the National Council for Childhood and Adolescence highlighted the legal framework governing the right to education for all children in the country under the General Education Act, No. 66-97. Representatives of the Ministry highlighted that the same provisions were applied everywhere in the Dominican Republic. The Ministry of Education acknowledged that at the age of 18 years a cédula is required to continue in formal education and to enter university. They noted that the lack of documentation necessary for university entrance is a problem that also affects many undocumented Dominicans and that the Government is working to address such documentation issues. 3. Employment 85. The experts were informed that demand for Haitian labour continues to be high in such sectors as construction and that large numbers continue to enter the Dominican Republic with the unofficial sanction of authorities or via the activities of traffickers. 86. In the visit undertaken by the experts to bateyes 11 in the region of San Pedro de Macorís, currently owned by private sugar companies, community members described problems related to lack of documentation noting that fichas are not officially recognized as valid, for example for those who wish to claim a pension after years of work and compulsory contributions from their wages. Elderly community members, some who had worked up to 40 or 50 years as sugar cane cutters, explained that having given their lives to the sugar cane firms they are left in conditions of extreme poverty, with no access to a pension or social security due to the refusal to accept their fichas as valid documents. 11 The communities attached to the sugar cane plantations, where the cane cutters live.