Education is crucial for the development of any person. But undocumented people over the age of 18 are deprived of these opportunities in Amsterdam and most other European cities. In this session, a pilot will be discussed in which municipalities and universities search for creative solutions on how Amsterdam could legalise school access for undocumented people over 18. Those who have been campaigning for this new approach will present their ideas for this new practice. A central question is how this pilot project could also pave the way for a route to legalisation of the status of the undocumented youth in the Netherlands.
PROGRAM
We start the session with a presentation by Ciara Redmond and Tania Stein of We Belong UK, a migrant youth-led organisation, campaigning for the rights of young migrants (16-25 year-olds), developing young leaders by providing advice, support and training. With as mission: to create a strong counter-narrative to the UK’s hostile environment by advocating for reform within the UK’s immigration system.
Afterwards, we turn to the situation of undocumented youth in the Netherlands, together with Marcus Souza Dos Santos (City of Amsterdam), Tara Fiorito (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) and Ruben Boers (The Hague & Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences). Which access do they have to basic human rights, such as education? And what does the recent pilot of legalising higher education for undocumented youth taken in Amsterdam entail?
City Rights United poster on the City ID
Design by Cococollective © City Rights United
About the conference
With various (inter)national speakers and in a mix of plenary and break-out sessions, we dive into the best practices from Europe that the City Rights United team collected. Throughout the evening, there is a walk-in marketplace with t-shirts and other merchandise run and developed by undocumented people!
Register here for the full program of this conference in Pakhuis de Zwijger (access to this offline event is free, registration necessary).
About the project
“The Toolkit for Inclusive Cities” is a collection of practices in European cities to make their cities more inclusive and accessible for undocumented people. The toolkit takes many forms: posters, videos, podcasts but also workshops and lectures. The toolkit is the result of 2 years of intense collaboration between various partners in Europe sharing their experiences, practices and knowledge on organising locally and overcoming local challenges for undocumented people. All this information is now combined in the toolkit, which will be presented during this conference on May 12 in Pakhuis de Zwijger. The conference continues for 2 days (on May 13-14) in BAK Utrecht, with worksessions and events.
The network City Rights United, started in 2019 by Here To Support, consists of partner organisations based on collaborations of citizens with and without documents.
