In a world where education is a fundamental right for children, the story of young team of stateless gymnasts in Pakistan serves as a poignant reminder of the barriers some children face in accessing formal education. Without nationality, they cannot attend school, and must rely on community led efforts for education. Despite the barriers, the gymnasts channel their energy and passion to train and educate others about the obstacles they face, a testament to the indomitable spirit of children who strive to overcome adversity in pursuit of their dreams. Yet, more must be done to support them. The international community must mobilise to ensure that all children have nationality and education.

The time to act is now. Join us by signing this open letter which calls on States and other key actors to address the injustice faced by stateless children.

You can access the complete text of the Open Letter both here and below.

Puedes acceder a la carta abierta aquí.

يمكنك الوصول إلى الرسالة المفتوحة هنا

This letter has been prepared by the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion in consultation with partners, and endorsed by a number of organisations.

This initiative is part of the ongoing Awareness Month on Childhood Statelessness and Education. 

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Open Letter on Inclusive Education for Stateless Children 

Education is a powerful tool that empowers individuals to lead a dignified life and contribute to society. It has the capacity to alleviate poverty, promote equitable and inclusive societies, and drive economic growth. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) asserts education as an inherent human right that should be available to every child without discrimination, recognizing its importance for children’s development. Denying access to education is always contrary to the best interests of the child and can lead to serious child protection risks such as early marriage, human trafficking, and forced recruitment.

However, access to formal education is often denied to the millions of stateless children around the world. This has an impact not only on their development but also on their communities, exacerbating problems such as poverty, social exclusion, and further discrimination, while perpetuating the cycle of statelessness. Ensuring equal access to equitable, quality education would allow stateless children to live and grow as all children should, while equipping them with the means to contest and even transcend boundaries imposed by their lack of nationality, potentially altering their trajectory in life.

Depending on their personal circumstances and country context, stateless children face a myriad of obstacles - all rooted in discrimination - to access and continuous education including:

• Direct discrimination, when countries exclude non-citizen children and children without the required legal status from accessing public education
• Administrative barriers, when documentary requirements for school registration or the sitting of public exams have the effect of hindering access for children without formal proof of legal identity, such as birth registration, identity cards, or secondary documentation
• Socio-economic barriers, when stateless families are compelled to pay for private education due to being excluded from accessing public education
• Arbitrary and discriminatory exclusion, when public dissent against the inclusion of stateless children can influence school administration policies

In some instances, stateless children can rely on informal education initiatives provided by community-led organisations. However, these are generally inadequate and unsustainable  solutions that lack the necessary resources and accreditation, and are therefore not a satisfactory replacement for formal education.

In addition to state obligations under the CRC to provide for every child’s right to an education, Goal 4 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals calls on states to develop inclusive equitable quality education opportunities that leave no child behind, and promote lifelong learning for all.  Despite progress being made to achieve this goal, stateless children - who encounter structural discrimination - continue to bear the brunt of exclusive policies that not only leave them behind, but that threaten the successful achievement of this goal globally.

If states and other stakeholders truly hope to address this problem, it is crucial to raise awareness, but also to identify and dismantle the specific barriers that stateless children face in their enjoyment of the right to education. We must design and implement programmes, responses and interventions that take into consideration the unique needs of stateless children - as articulated by them and their communities - and prioritise their right to equitable and quality education, without discrimination. This Awareness Month on Childhood Statelessness and Education is a step in that direction, as it creates opportunities for affected communities and stakeholders to come together in meaningful conversations aimed at developing ideas and approaches that facilitate implementation of the recommendations set out herein.

The Roadmap for Change, developed by the COVID-19 Emergency Statelessness Fund Consortium also serves as a useful tool to facilitate the meaningful consultation and centring of stateless communities in this regard. This three-step Roadmap, calls on stakeholders to a) check for institutional blindspots, b) include, consult and engage in dialogue, and c) build back better.

In this context, we the undersigned urge stakeholders to take urgent action in accordance with their respective mandates and responsibilities and call on:

1. States to, in consultation with stateless communities, education actors, civil society and other relevant stakeholders, ensure that stateless children have access to education without discrimination, as stipulated in CRC Article 2, and are not excluded from schools due to lack of nationality, documentation or the required legal status. States should also simplify registration processes to ensure accessibility for stateless children, taking into account their lack of nationality and/or documentation.  States are further called on to take practical steps and measures that ensure institutions offering non-formal education and informal learning receive accreditation to ease the transition from alternative education programmes. These legal obligations are firmly rooted in international law, as outlined in the CRC Article 28 and ICESCR Article 13, which require states to provide free, universal and compulsory primary education, progressive free secondary education, and access to higher education based on individual capacity.
2. Education actors, in consultation with stateless communities, work with states to develop policies and programs that address the specific challenges faced by stateless children in accessing education, inclusive of providing the necessary technical assistance and capacity building for states and other stakeholders working on this issue.
3. United Nations Agencies, in consultation with stateless communities, advocate for the rights of stateless children as per their respective mandates and promote awareness about this issue among member states, while working with states, education authorities and other stakeholders through offering technical and programmatic support as necessary, and to ensure the adherence to international standards and guidelines related to access to education for stateless children.
4. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mechanisms (including relevant Treaty Bodies, Special Procedures and the UN Human Rights Council) to closely monitor states’ compliance with international human rights treaties related to education for stateless children, and offer safe and meaningful ways for stateless communities to engage in these processes, to ensure equitable access to quality education regardless of nationality or legal status.
5. The international community to make education more equitable by funding the development of schools to serve stateless communities, while supporting non-formal and informal education initiatives and recognizing education as a universal public good with far-reaching impact.
6. All stakeholders, to draw on the Roadmap for Change as a tool to ensure the meaningful, safe and effective inclusion of  stateless children and their communities, in their efforts to improve policies on inclusive education. This includes through incorporating the views of stateless children and child rights defenders to ensure their effective participation in the decision-making process at national, regional and international level.

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This Open Letter has been endorsed by

Bairska Svetlina - Centre for the Development of the Roma Community, Citizenship Affected People’s Network, Council of Minorities, ELOM Initiatives, Imkaan Welfare Organization, ISKUL, Nubian Rights Forum, Observatory Caribbean Migrants, Rohingya Human Rights Initiative, Un Ponte Per (UPP), The Centre for Child Law, Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights, The National Association Against Child Abuse - CONACMI, Consortium for Street Children, Child Identity Protection (CHIP), Nationality For All, International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW), Statelessness Legal Clinic (Australia), Family Frontiers , Human Rigts Watch, Lawyers for Human Rights.