Education: Hope for newcomers in Europe
INTRODUCTION Spanish legislation provides for the right of refugees to education and international protection. In practice, however, the absence of a legal framework and institutional infrastructure specifically designed to identify the needs of this target group and provide an appropriate response runs counter to this formal recognition. There are no mechanisms to guarantee the fulfilment and respect of these rights. This failing has a particularly harmful effect on child refugees and asylum seekers, given their greater vulnerability. This study provides an overview of the current situation of refugee and asylumseeking minors in the Spanish State – with regard to the right to education and, more generally, in relation to access to adequate protection mechanisms given their vulnerable situation. To this end, we begin with a review of the legal, institutional and administrative structure of refugee reception, followed by an analysis of the risks, limitations and challenges posed by it. This analytical section is accompanied by a review of the initiatives and actions led by civil society, which are limited in nature but nevertheless indicate areas of improvement, as well as good practices, which could be incorporated into existing institutional mechanisms. Finally, the study concludes with a set of proposals aimed at developing a systematic and effective response to enable progress towards the comprehensive care of refugee children. The study has had the benefit of input from experts in education, international protection, childhood and human rights. An effort is thus made to give a voice to the diversity of persons who can draw on their professional experience to provide an informed perspective on the issue, as well as proposals for improvement based on the evidence and practical experimentation. Promoting exchanges between these experts, and the attention paid by the competent authorities to their observations prove of vital importance in moving towards a generalised improvement of the system. This report essentially emerges as an initial approximation to the right to education for refugees in Spain, thereby serving as a point of departure or invitation to closer attention and a public discussion on this issue. Similarly, the range of good practices and proposals for improvement is likewise conceived in exploratory terms. The aim is to identify potentially useful actions, but above all to encourage in-depth reflection on the current state of the situation.
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