International legal standards Bangladesh is a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which affirms a child’s right to education, and to the Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers.3°¢ In a General Comment issued jointly with the UN Committee on the Rights of Migrant Workers, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child asserted that, irrespective of their status, all children shall have full access to education at all levels on the basis of equality with nationals of the country in which they are living.3°7 The non-discrimination principle of the CRC means that asylum seekers and refugee children are entitled to all rights in the convention, including access to “quality and inclusive” education.3°° In June 2009, the Committee on the Rights of the Child called on Bangladesh to “allow access to education for Rohingya children residing in the refugee camps as well as education and birth registration for Rohingya children not registered as refugees ... and fully implement existing High Court Orders that would facilitate equal enjoyment of their rights.”3°9 In October 2015, the Committee reiterated its concern about “the lack of education for refugee children.”3?° The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, concluding its review of Bangladesh in March 2011, stated that it was “deeply concerned” that Rohingya were denied legal status and access to education and other basic services outside the 306 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), adopted November 20, 1989, G.A. Res. 44/25, annex, 44 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 49) at 167, U.N. Doc. A/44/49 (4989), entered into force September 2, 1990, http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b38fo.html (accessed June 8, 2018), art. 28-29; Convention on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and their Families, adopted December 18, 1990, G.A. Res. 45/158, entered into force July 1, 2003, https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=lV-13&chapter=4&clang=_en (accessed August 25, 2019). 3°7 UN Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Joint General Comment No. 4, and No. 23, Committee on the Rights of the Child on State Obligations Regarding the Human Rights of Children in the Context of International Migration in Countries of Origin, Transit, Destination and Return, U.N. Doc. CMW/C/GC/4-CRC/C/GC/23 (2017), http://www.refworld.org/docid/5a12942a2b.html (accessed June 8, 2018), para. 59. 308 |q., paras. 9, 59. 3°9 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Concluding Observations, Bangladesh, June 26, 2009, paragraph 79, http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/docs/co/CRC.C.BGD.CO.4_en.pdf (accessed June 8, 2019). In 2003, the Supreme Court ordered the government to register Urdu-speakers as citizens and issue them national identification documents. UNHCR, “How a Bangladesh court ruling changed the lives of more than 300,000 stateless people,” September 23, 2015, https://www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2015/2/54ec22869/bangladesh-court-ruling-changed-lives-300000stateless-people.html (accessed June 17, 2019). 319 CRC, Concluding Observations, Bangladesh, October 30, 2015, paragraph 66(c), https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRC/C/BGD/CO/5&Lang=En (accessed June 8, 2019). 77 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | DECEMBER 2019