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measures should benefit unaccompanied children and children with their families and should
have the necessary flexibility to improve the social integration of migrants, as well as provide
access to fundamental rights, including the right to seek and obtain employment.
77. In discharging his mandate, the Special Rapporteur has come across other initiatives,
activities and policies implemented by Governments that reflect the commitment of host
countries to the realization of the rights of the child in the context of migration. Some examples
of good practices aimed at ensuring the realization of the right to education of the migrant child
are given below.
78. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the attention devoted by some States, including
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, to early childhood
services aiming at developing children’s capacities in general while also addressing specific
issues, such as the language skills of children who have little opportunity to speak the local
language in their families or neighbourhoods.53 Although common services and facilities for all
children should be the guiding principle, the Special Rapporteur commends the efforts made by a
number of OECD countries to include migrant children and children from a migration
background in support programmes aimed at fostering both their linguistic development and
cultural integration in host countries54 and encourages States, especially host countries, to
continue their efforts to integrate migrant children and children from a migrant background and
their families in these or similar programmes.
79. The Special Rapporteur also welcomes the efforts of host countries to improve equality in
access to education for migrant children. This is the case of a number of OECD countries, such
as in Japan, where migrant children, regardless of their immigration status, are allowed to enrol
in public schools free of charge (A/HRC/11/7/Add.1). This is also the case of Uruguay
(law 18.250, art. 11) and Argentina (law 25.871, art. 8).
80. The Special Rapporteur also commends host countries, especially those belonging to the
European Communities, for their efforts to build intercultural and teaching skills to favour the
inclusion of migrant families and their children, regardless of their migration status.55 The
Special Rapporteur furthermore praises the efforts made to accommodate linguistic and religious
diversity and cultural perspectives in education plans and programmes55 and welcomes bilateral
53
See Mahon, R., “Child care policy: comparative perspective” available at
www.child-encyclopedia.com/documents/MahonANGxp.pdf; and John Bennett, Early childhood
services in the OECD countries: review of the literature and current policy in the early
childhood field, Innocenti working paper, UNICEF-Innocenti Research Centre, August 2008.
54
Ibid. See also C. Katharina Spieß, E.M. Berger and O. Groh-Samberg, Overcoming disparities
and expanding access to early childhood services in Germany: policy considerations and
funding options, Innocenti Working Paper, UNICEF-Innocenti Research Centre,
December 2008.
55
See Commission of the European Communities, Green Paper. Migration and mobility:
challenges and opportunities for EU education systems, Brussels, 2008.