A critical analysis of the legal framework on the right to education for unaccompanied refugee children

Abstract

Uganda has an open-door policy on refugees and as a result hosts a number of refugees who among them are children. Some of these children flee in company of their parents while the others flee their home countries unaccompanied. All these refugee children are entitled to enjoy their basic human rights like any other citizens when they reach their host country. The right to education is one of the basic human rights that unaccompanied refugee children should be entitled to. Uganda’s constitution under Article 30 guarantees that every person should enjoy the right to education. Every child shall enjoy the right to basic education as stipulated under Article 34 of Uganda’s Constitution. Article 34 of Uganda’s Constitution further stipulates that both the State and parents are jointly obligated to ensure that children enjoy access to basic education. Refugee children are entitled to free government funded education under the Refugee Act of 2006. This research seeks to critically analyse whether the legal framework regulating the right to education for refugee children in Uganda has lived to its purpose. The researcher will continue to explore if there any existing gaps and whether the gaps relate to implementation of the law or the laws are just not sufficient to address the problem.