Birth Certificate and Access to Education – Round Table

On the 27th of February, this Round Table provided many people and organisations working with undocumented minors residing in South Africa with the opportunity to share about their situation and their Constitutional right to education. Unfortunately, we assist too many cases of children who have been refused permission to attend schools because they do not have a birth certificate. This Round Table, which was co-hosted between SIHMA and CPLO and funded by CEI, was addressed by Ms Sindi Moyo, an advocacy officer at the Scalabrini Centre, and Ms Giulia Treves, manager at Lawrence House, our Scalabrinian Children and Youth Care Centre in Woodstock.

The discussion not only explored the difficulty faced by the children of migrants and refugees to access education due to a lack of documentation, but also the avenues for advocacy to address the situation. One of the most salient points that Ms Moyo made was that while the Constitution grants a right of all children to receive a basic education, immigration legislation makes it illegal for undocumented children to exercise that right. What emerged as especially unfair was the fact that children are punished or penalized due to the condition of their parents, often the result of unjust decisions like the closure of Cape Town Refugee Reception Office in 2013. Actions should be taken to promote change so that the state should process the birth registration and the child allowed to access services.

Ms. Treves started from some practical examples of how Lawrence House, which is specialised in the care and protection of unaccompanied foreign minors and refugee children, including the provision of education. Many interesting cases and strategies were shared with the audience. The most important suggestion from Ms. Treves was to be focused on the small but positive progress and results achieved by many institutions that work in this field, despite the complicate, exhausting and sometimes discouraging experiences in dealing with Home Affairs and different departments. Small, targeted strategies are possible and can be put in place, while we wait for also a larger strategy of advocacy to change rules and laws.

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