CEDAW/C/GC/36
Students who are refugees, asylum seekers, Stateless, undocumented, internally
displaced and migrants
42. When forcibly uprooted, girls and women in those situations end up in camps
with no schools or in makeshift schools with limited capacity, without curricula or
instruction in their languages. Displacement causes particular barriers to learning;
human resources may be lost and physical infrastructure destroyed and, during flight,
children may lose State-mandated documentation, thereby preventing them from
enrolling in new schools. Girls can be particularly affected during displacement
because the situation of increased insecurity causes some parents to keep girls at
home.
Students with disabilities
43. Millions of girls and women with disabilities are deprived of the right to
education as a result of intersecting forms of discrimination, on the basis of gender
and disability. According to UNESCO, a third of out-of-school children worldwide
are children with disabilities. 9
44. Many Governments officially promote inclusive education; however, in
practice, children with disabilities, especially girls, are either excluded or segregated
in special schools. Low attendance rates of children with disabilities, in particular
girls, have similar causes globally, namely, lack of physical accessibility, refusal of
teachers or school principals to enrol such children, lack of accom modation of their
needs in school curricula and teaching materials and, more generally, stigma and lack
of awareness among parents and communities, which yield negative attitudes about
the learning capacities of women and girls with disabilities. Additiona lly, the number
of teachers trained to address students with special needs is often inadequate.
Lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and intersex students
45. Bullying, harassment and threats against such students by fellow students and
teachers constitute barriers to their right to education. Schools perpetuate and
reinforce social prejudices, often as a result of the poor implementation of policies by
school governance bodies, as well as irregular enforcement of non -discrimination
policies by teachers, principals and other school authorities. Limited education and
cultural taboos are among the factors that prevent lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and
intersex students from achieving social mobility and increase their vulnerability to
violence.
46. The Committee recommends that States parties take all appropriate
measures to ensure the right of all categories of disadvantaged and marginalized
groups to education by eliminating stereotyping and discrimination, removing
barriers to access and implementing the following measures:
(a) Address stereotyping, in particular of indigenous girls and women and
of those from minority groups, that puts them at risk in gaining access to
education, exposes them to violence in school and the community and on their
way to and from school, especially in remote areas;
(b) Address the low socioeconomic status and living conditions, in
particular of indigenous girls and women and of those from minority groups,
that are barriers to gaining access to education, in particular in the light of male
preference where schooling is concerned in situations of scarce financial
resources;
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9
17-19774
See https://en.unesco.org/themes/inclusion-in-education.
11/23