Education for all (conditions apply).

Unaccompanied minors are a slice of the demographic that Digmun works with. I myself have very little interaction with this group, and what I know mainly derives from years of studies and observations I was able to carry out in these two months.

Most of my time is spent with children that can rely on their families; nevertheless, their situation isn't much brighter than the one of unaccompanied minors. They have the love and support of a mother, sometimes also a father, but not much more. Some of these children are institutionally invisible: their birth was never registered in Morocco, let alone in Ceuta. Some of these children don't have the papers to legally live in Ceuta, making them part of the crowd that crosses the frontier daily to earn a living or, in this specific case, earn an education. Most of them speak very little of Spanish - if we're lucky, we catch them early, at an age which regardless of country of birth a child beings being schooled. They begin to learn to read and write, like any other child would do at that age. If we're unlucky, the process it's started later in their life - sometimes as late as sixteen years old.

Public opinion here in Ceuta is divided on the issue. Many argue that if these children aren't supposed to be here, we are not obliged to provide any form of schooling as to uphold the child's inherent right to an education. This might sound reasonable; however, it clashes against the very basic definition of human right:
"Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status. We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination. These rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible" - UN OHCHR.
Invisible children are entitled to an education as much as any other child who was registered at birth. Children who follow their parents to a new country are entitled to an education, regardless of the reason behind the immigration. It is a very basic concept that somehow Ceuta forgets daily. The rule of law is strong and upheld only when it is convenient to those in charge, as recent Spanish events have highlighted. If you've followed the development of Catalonia's independence claim, you'll be familiar with the ironic notion that national constitutional law is apparently more relevant than the international human right of self-determination of people - but that's another story. It is, nonetheless, relevant to our discourse, to make a comparison and emphasise institutional recidivism.

We, at Digmun, interact with these children. And when people who are against offering an education to non-registered minors forget their prejudices and interact wholeheartedly, they remember that a child is a child regardless of citizenship, religion, culture and language. They remember fondly the hours spent with their parents repeating syllable after syllable until reading became so natural they felt like they were always able to do so. They remember that by learning how to associate a sound to one of 26 weird symbols of the European alphabet, they were able to move around independently and expand their pond of knowledge. They remember that education is the key to anyone's future; and when the barriers of prejudice are down, they are unable to see differences between children.

If only governments could have the eyes of a human being, maybe invisible children would be able to come out of the shadows and fully make use of those rights which are inherently theirs. Instead, we need NGOs like Digmun to take up government lacks and provide for the less fortunate. Next post will be all about my work with these children - and how we are trying to equip them with the same tools Spanish children have to confront life.

Comments