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May 25, 2012
'Undocumented kids have a right to school'
Published: 17 Aug 09 13:18 CET | Double click on a word to get a translation
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/21514/20090817/
The Swedish government has appointed a commission with the task of establishing the right of children of illegal immigrants to attend school.
- Test sites named for Swedish language-learning bonus (11 Jun 09)
- UN slams Sweden for child rights failure (27 May 09)
- 'Let schools suspend pupils': Björklund (14 Apr 09)
"It is maybe a question of several hundred, or perhaps thousand, children who are in Sweden but currently have no right to go to school," Björklund said to Ekot.
"We reason that all children in the world, regardless of where they live and regardless of their parents rights or wrongs, have a right to a school education."
The commission of inquiry will consider the rights of children whose parents have come to Sweden illegally and may not have applied for residence permits, or may have had their applications rejected. There are no figures as to how many children there are, Sveriges Radio reports.
Jan Björklund categorically promises that if the Alliance government remains in power after the next general election (in September 2010) then legislation will be passed to enable all children in Sweden, regardless of status, access to schooling.
The plans were welcomed by Christina Heilborn, a lawyer at Unicef.
"We are very happy and welcome this decision. This is also something that we have previously demanded," she said.
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
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A slap in the face of all LEGAL immigrants.
Illegals should be DEPORTED at one, not being given more "rights".
Absurd...
They are illegal, if they know that then the parents should be investigated and deported. All other immigrants have to go through paperwork and such to even reside in the country.
If you allow the children to go to school then it gives the illegal's more reason to try and stay here via their illegal methods.
I don't believe you should punish the children for things they can not control... But if a child is registered in the system, even if illegal, you'll be able to see where they reside and the proper steps can be taken.
But there are many sides and 'if's to this situation. The point is things are illegal for a reason.
Not only are these parents legally criminals, they destroy a future of their children as well.
This is nuts. Unemployment is going up all around Europe. We haven't got the jobs for these people and we should not be paying for them as well.
As a matter of interest, have any of you actually thought about how much money it costs for an illegal to get from the middle east or Africa to Northern Europe. They could actually purchase a small farm or good house for the cost they pay.
Even the local commune house in my town has a standing order with the local pizzeria staffed by 6 full time staff of which 5 are illegals. The Pizzaria only pays 2000 krona tax per month, according to tax office records, yet is constantly full, with a delivery serevice that operates across the entire commune. The legal worker has two personal numbers, which is illegal as well.
Since their asylum applications were rejected (and Sweden has very lax migration laws) this means these people are economic migrants for sure and not in any danger. And such behaviour should not be awarded with free schooling...
Also, since they're illegal the children's degrees won't be recognised in Sweden and if/when they move overseas to work with their degrees their knowledge is lost. So how exactly does this benefit the tax payers who pay for this education? Or is UNICEF paying?
Illegal means that they had the visa once but it was not extended and they are still living on the ID card they have from when there visa was valid or illegal means they have the visa but not allowed to work or something ?
Can you live in sweden without a valid foto legitimakhoon ?
I am very proud Swedish government and its valuable decisions!
Good parents take care of their kids. What really should happen is the removal of these kids from their parents. But that can't happen since the authorities can't find them.
100 million children around the world lack access to education. This is part of a bigger problem. Countries need to educate their own citizens. Rewarding illegal immigration is not the way to go.
I believe in the charter of human rights, and the rights of a child.
A child should NOT be held accountable for a parents actions, and if the child does go through the swedish system, odds are he will stay here for the considerable future and be part of the swedish future workforce.
Sweden needs more citizens, this is why we see such a large amount of refugees being virtually invited to Sweden. While I may not ethically believe a child should be stripped of his cultural identity, nothing is to say that if the parent has done a bunk that the child itself wont choose to wish to merge into swedish society.
This has nothing to do with deportation.
If a family is issued a deportation notice, then the family will need to leave.
However up until this point, it doesn't mean children shouldn't deserve the basic human rights.
On the flip side, do any of you guys roughly know the costs in enforcing deportations?
a question for those who agree with the new story.
Do you not think this will lead to illegal useing there kids to stay? is this unreasonable to think? and what do you think about using the kids to find the parents so they can be deported. if they were denied asylum then it obviosly a econiomic issue and not that they are here because they fear for there life. do you think there is any truth to this?
If Sweden needs as many immigrants as you claim, then shoudn't they all be legal immigrants? Illegals should not be given privileges ahead of legals regardless of their kids.
I'm sure illegals will try to use their kids to avoid deportation unless Sweden has a very firm "no way" policy as a way to ensure this doesn't happen. Otherwise you can expect to soon be flooded with illegals bringing their kids into the country.
To be honest I dont have all the data to speculate on what the Swedish immigration board uses to determine immigration status. Obviously financial and educational background will determine allot.
I personally believe that ANY child on Swedish soil should be respected under the human rights treaty, especially the UNICEF "Convention on the Rights of the Child".
Regardless what crimes an adult may do on foreign soil, you cant expect a child to be sentenced and have their fundamental human rights taken away based on their parents actions.
Governments all over the world use taxes to imprison criminals, regardless if they have been tax payers. Why wouldn't governments use taxes to protect children on their own soil?
Just accepting them under the blanket of untempered compassion leads to....California. Or France. The parents are using that blanket to smother the very cultures and countries they invade. And trust me, it's an invasion.
If sweden needs more immigration why not accept these ppl into the society, swedes seems to forget when they were migrating to USA after the great civil war and to Canada around the world wars 1920 to about 1945!!
NO KID SHOULD BE ILLEGAL ANYWHERE!!
This shouldn't even be up for discussion.
How difficult is the word "illegal" to understand?
Garbage, just garbage.
Sweden needs legal immigrants, not illegal immigrants. Sweden is a country of 9 million people - there are around a billion poor people around the world. You cannot just open borders to immigrants - it'll lead to the fall of society.
And how many illegal Swedish immigrants do you know? Most Swedes have migrated legally. In the past they migrated to a state where documents were not necessary at the time. Either way it's false logic. What some people choose to do does not reflect on the policies of the state. Angolans, for example, may try to come illegally to Europe all the time. And at the same time Angola (which is relatively rich in Africa) is deporting hundreds of immigrants a week. And they have every right to do this. They're having a boom right now and this would be destroyed if they were swamped by foreigners.
I suggest you go out into the world and learn (and read) instead of just spouting the same nonsense the media spits out.
Perhaps this move has more than one motive? Educate these poor mistreated children and enforce laws that the parents are not upholding? I don't really see how that could be a bad thing. As long as the law was phrased in such a way that prevented the illegal immigrant parents from using it as leverage to avoid deportation.
That sounds so beautiful written. To bad it will never happen!
Mankind is greedy, murderous, jealous and lazy. We are also social creatures and we still live in "tribes" or communities consisting of people that think/act/look the same and always will! That is how we were created!!
Give me one good reason that a person seeking to benefit from the social programs of society should not be made to contribute to and JOIN that society? One reason. You want to consume resources that I pay for? Then become a citizen, get a job, and pay your taxes. I'm not supporting you and your kids forever, I have my own kids to support. I work to do it. Any other parent should too. It's very, very simple.
very simply. and don't misuse economic reasons to justify racism, Hitler attacked other countries because of economic reasons (to rob them). racism is today based on economic reasons. but racism is racism in any case. as someone said: Swedish were immigrants in the past, so if other accepted you, now it is your turn to accept others.
I really believe that most people don't have a problem with immigrants coming into their country to make a better life for themselves and their families. They just want them to go through the paperwork and get registered, in other words, do it legally, the way it should be done.
The problem starts when immigrants do it illegally, don't assimilate into society, don't learn the language, don't have a job, don't pay taxes, don't contribute.
That makes the "natives" feel like they're being disrespected, taken advantage of and being forced to pay for people that don't have the right to be there in the first place.
Paying for housing, healthcare, education, food etc. for illegal immigrants is a HUGE strain on society and on law abiding, tax paying, hard working citizens.