Motion for a resolution | Doc. 13533 | 11 June 2014

Access to school and education for all children

Signatories: Mr Gvozden Srećko FLEGO, Croatia, SOC ; Mr Volodymyr ARIEV, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Mr Joe BENTON, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Levan BERDZENISHVILI, Georgia, ALDE ; Mr Paolo CORSINI, Italy, SOC ; Mr Carlos COSTA NEVES, Portugal, EPP/CD ; Ms Milena DAMYANOVA, Bulgaria, EPP/CD ; Ms Ismeta DERVOZ, Bosnia and Herzegovina, EPP/CD ; Lady Diana ECCLES, United Kingdom, EDG ; Sir Roger GALE, United Kingdom, EDG ; Ms Alina Ştefania GORGHIU, Romania, ALDE ; Mr Margus HANSON, Estonia, ALDE ; Mr Kent HÄRSTEDT, Sweden, SOC ; Mr Rafael HUSEYNOV, Azerbaijan, ALDE ; Mr Valeri JABLIANOV, Bulgaria, SOC ; Mr Jan KAŹMIERCZAK, Poland, EPP/CD ; Mr Pierre-Yves LE BORGN', France, SOC ; Mr Nicos NICOLAIDES, Cyprus, SOC ; Ms Gabriela PECKOVÁ, Czech Republic, EPP/CD ; Ms Foteini PIPILI, Greece, EPP/CD ; Mr Volodymyr PYLYPENKO, Ukraine, SOC ; Mr André SCHNEIDER, France, EPP/CD ; Ms Elisabeth SCHNEIDER-SCHNEITER, Switzerland, EPP/CD ; Mr Piotr WACH, Poland, EPP/CD

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only those who have signed it.

Article 2 of Protocol No 1 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms provides that “No person shall be denied the right to education”. In addition, under Article 17.1.a. of the European Social Charter (revised), the Parties must “ensure that children and young persons (…) have (…) the education and the training they need” to ensure the effective exercise of their right to grow up in an environment which encourages the full development of their personality and of their physical and mental capacities.

In spite of these texts, in European States, some of the most disadvantaged children, in particular undocumented children (often children who have been abandoned by their families and are living in the street, but also Roma children and refugee children), are denied the right of access to school in de facto terms. This robs them of any chance of taking their place in society, whether in the countries where they were born, in host countries or elsewhere, or of living there in dignity.

The Parliamentary Assembly should study the practical measures which Council of Europe member States and the Council of Europe itself could take to eliminate all the obstacles to access to education and make sure that State schools cater for all children.