A Study on the Protection of Fundamental Right of Undocumented Immigrant Children: Focused on the European Countries

Abstract

About 20,000 undocumented immigrant children live in Korea, but the fundamental rights for their lives are not guaranteed. In particular, they are suffering from problems such as birth registration, the infringement of the right to health and education. With regard to the birth registration of undocumented immigrant children, european countries stipulate that the birth of all children in that country can be registered regardless of their parents’ status and automatically issue birth certificates without further action. Since the universal birth registration system and issuance of related documents are the basic premise for respecting children's dignity as human beings, Korea also needs to introduce such procedures as soon as possible. Regarding the right to health of undocumented immigrant children, providing daily medical services other than emergency medical services is considered a social security area, but children's health is the most significant element for life maintenance and whole-person development, so medical access should be guaranteed regardless of the legality of residence status. We need to guarantee minimum medical access of undocumented children to maintain their health through providing emergency medical services, primary and secondary medical care services to the same extent as Korean children, or providing cost support. And in respect of guaranteeing undocumented immigrant children's right to education, we should strive to ensure that undocumented immigrant children receive education without discrimination in accordance with international society’s good practice of explicitly stipulating all children's right to education including undocumented immigrant children.