© Arthimedes/Shutterstock.com

As a contribution to the Human Rights Day 2018, which marks the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UNESCO, the City Council of Barcelona, the Centre for UNESCO of Catalonia and the Generalitat de Catalunya, will organize an International Expert Meeting on Public Policies supporting the Right to Education of Refugees.
Education plays a key role in providing refugees the necessary tools for the full development of their personality, insertion in the labour market and for improving their livelihoods. It is also key to successful integration thereby facilitating a more meaningful contribution to the societies, and contributes as well to mutual acceptance and respect with the population in receiving countries. Yet, despite the fact that issues related to education of refugees are not new, this represents a huge challenge today. According to UNHCR, refugee children are five times more likely to be out of school.

The International Expert Meeting will highlight States' core duty to ensure that no one is denied their right to receive quality education, especially those who fled their country.

It will bring together country representatives and internationally known experts and will serve as a platform seeking to facilitate and enrich the discussions on conceptual, legal and policy issues in relation with the protection of the right to education of refugees. In particular, the objectives are to identify challenges faced by countries and cities hosting important numbers of refugees, to discuss country good practices and promising policy measures, to identify specific areas for targeting and strengthening support and discuss key policy levers.

The event therefore aims at encouraging and facilitating peer-learning, and identifying relevant policy recommendations, at international, national, regional, local, and school levels.