Education and cultural development of migrants

Recommendation 786 (1976)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 16 September 1976 (9th Sitting) (seeDoc. 3843, report of the Committee on Culture and Education). Text adopted by the Assembly on 16 September 1976 (9th Sitting).

Thesaurus

The Assembly,

1. Referring to the report of its Committee on Culture and Education (Doc. 3843) ;

2. Convinced that a variety of cultures can be a source of mutual enrichment for the societies concerned, but fearing that the educational and cultural difficulties encountered by migrants may aggravate the social problems ;

3. Believing that migrants contribute to the unification of Europe, but that improved information is needed in order to dissipate misunderstanding and prejudice, both in the host countries and in the emigration countries ;

4. Aware that attitudes to the education of migrants are currently changing in a number of member states, and wishing to encourage the exchange of experience as beneficial to all the states concerned ;

5. Recognising that the problems which arise in the education of migrants, and in particular in the teaching of foreign languages, are scarcely different from those which arise in the education of nationals ;

6. Believing that migrant workers should enjoy equality of treatment with native workers, and that their vocational training should be fully integrated with the educational structures of the country in question ;

7. Believing that special measures are needed to deal with the situation of female migrants and the wives of migrant workers, who have special problems to face ;

8. Approving the principles formulated by the ad hoc Conference on the Education of Migrants, organised by the Council of Europe in November 1974, and anxious to support the action recommended in this sphere by the 9th Session of the Standing Conference of European Ministers of Education in June 1975 ;

9. Appreciating the standpoint adopted by the European Ministers responsible for Cultural Affairs at the Oslo Conference, in June 1976 ;

10. Noting that the European Communities have embarked upon a programme of action on behalf of migrant workers and their families, and on behalf of the education of the children of migrants, and wishing the Council of Europe to be associated with it so that such action shall not be confined to the member states of the Communities alone ;

11. Welcoming the priority assigned by the Committee of Ministers to the problems of migrants in the medium-term plan of the Council of Europe for 1976-80, a priority also emphasised by the CCC in its own work programme,

12. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers :

a invite member governments to implement with greater vigour the texts adopted in the Council of Europe concerning migrants, especially Resolution (70) 35, on school education for the children of migrant workers ;

b undertake without delay a study of the specific problems facing female migrants and the wives of migrant workers ;

c invite member governments to provide greater resources and step up the training of personnel to be responsible for the education and cultural development of migrants ;

d facilitate the implementation of action to assist migrants, by carrying out a study to clarify the mass of existing documentation on migrants' problems, by encouraging closer co-operation between host countries and emigration countries in any other way, and by urging member states to conclude bilateral agreements on specific programmes ;

e invite the governments of member states to co-ordinate their efforts on behalf of migrant workers, and to do all they can to facilitate their reintegration when they return to their countries of origin ;

f adopt the draft Convention on the Legal Status of Migrant Workers, which has been under consideration for several years.