Building Strategies to Improve the Protection of Children in an Irregular Migration Situation in Europe; Country Brief - United Kingdom
This brief was prepared to support the workshop: ‘Building Strategies to Protect Children in an Irregular Migration Situation in the United Kingdom’, which took place on 6 October 2011 in London. The brief outlines the laws and policies relating to the rights of undocumented children to healthcare, education and housing of children in irregular migration situations in the UK, and assesses whether children in an irregular migration situation can access these rights in practice. Despite legal entitlements to compulsory education, health care, and housing, children in an irregular migration situation face numerous barriers to exercising these rights in most European countries. They face high risks of poverty, exploitation, social exclusion, and violence. Only by guaranteeing basic access to education, health care and housing are these children allowed sure and solid development.
The workshop was the first in a series of seven intensive national workshops (in the UK, Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain) being held in the framework of the ‘Building Strategies to Improve the Protection of Undocumented Children in Europe’ project, co-funded by the European Commission Daphne III programme and Zennström Philanthropies.