Right to education is an empty promise for many child asylum seekers in Turkey: HRW

In a report released on May 31st, Human Rights Watch drew attention to the child asylum seekers in Turkey and said many of them are not attending schools ‘due to Turkey’s arbitrary policies on asylum seekers.’

While the report called on the Interior Ministry of Turkey to ‘revise policies for non-Syrian asylum seekers’, Mercator fellow on children’s rights at HRW, Simon Rau, said: “Turkish law guarantees all children the right to education, but for many child asylum seekers this is an empty promise… There are feasible steps that Turkey should take to get all children, including asylum seekers, into school.”

Currently, Turkey is the country that hosts most refugees and asylum seekers in the world. In addition to nearly 2.8 million Syrians, there are also about 300K asylum seekers from Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, and other countries.

Asylum seekers from countries aside from Syria are required to stay and live in areas designated by the government. So, when they choose to move to another city in order to find a job and make a living, they lose their legal status and, therefore, jeopardize their children’s education.

Though the latest data released by the government indicates that there are currently over 42K school-aged refugees and asylum seekers – aside from Syrians - in Turkey, there is not further information about how many of them are currently attending schools. Enrollment of Syrian children in schools have increased by 50% after Turkey asked for ‘donations’, however, the situation regarding non-Syrian children of refugee or asylum seeker status.

Source: https://www.birgun.net/haber-detay/hrw-turkiye-nin-sozleri-bos-vaatten-oteye-gecmiyor-163645.html