Our 30-Day Ask: No Refugee Child Out Of School For More Than a Month

In human history, no international human rights treaty has been as widely ratified as the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). And in the CRC, as it is commonly known, the right of every child to education and vocational training is fundamental. But even though education is a fundamental right, every child is not in school or training today. Millions of girls and boys are outside of school and the single biggest group of children being denied education are refugee children.
As an activist and a humanitarian I have witnessed firsthand displaced children being denied their right to a quality education. They know with each day out of school they are falling further behind – I have seen it in their eyes. Without the structure and psychological support of teachers and fellow students, their trauma is harder to heal.

It isn’t just the lack of schools and teachers, or the language barriers and discriminatory policies that keep young refugees from learning. Too often refugee children don’t go to school because they are the only ones in the family who are able to find work. Because many host communities limit or deny legal work to refugee adults younger children are forced to labour in fields, work the streets begging, or engage in other dangerous work.

Today there are more than 65 million refugees worldwide, and half of them are children. Seventeen years is now the average length of displacement for refugees – that’s the length of an entire childhood. This shocking number reinforces why it is vital that refugee children receive a quality education and are able to develop skills.

The Syria crisis is now in its sixth year. We are meeting countless young men and women who should be graduating high school, but instead they are working in hazardous environments, not having seen the inside of a classroom since grade six. This means that the world is at risk of losing an entire generation of children. The urgency for action has never been greater. We must ensure that global changes are made – both in policies and in funding approaches – to ensure that every last child is able to learn.

This is why the 71st United Nations General Assembly Session happening now in New York, is so important.
On September 20, world leaders – including Canada – made important policy and funding commitments to get 1 million more refugee children in school. Alongside other commitments, Canada also announced it would provide over $45 million in education funding for refugees, $20 million of which will support the Education Cannot Wait Fund, “to ensure the right to education for emergency-affected children and youth around the world”.
These promises are a much needed step in the right direction to help children and families who have been driven from their homes, but significant gaps remain. We need to ensure that these commitments become concrete action on the ground. Follow up is required, which is why Save the Children is calling on world leaders to revisit this conversation in one year. Canada is now a recognized leader on refugees and co-hosted this year’s Leaders’ Summit. In 2017 Prime Minister Trudeau should welcome world leaders to Canada to make sure they have met their commitments and that promises and conversations are translating into concrete differences for refugee children.

What we need is straightforward. Quality education needs to be available and accessible for all children, and world leaders must do better for refugee children in particular. The first step is to ensure no refugee child is out of school for more than 30 days.

Access to education for each and every child is essential for Save the Children. It is a key aspect of our vision, which is a world where every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation, and we will do whatever it takes to ensure every last child is reached. We call on everyone to join us.