Education is both an important factor shaping children and their families to migrate to Europe, and “a key element for refugee and migrant children’s social inclusion into host communities” (UNHCN, UNICEF & IOM 2019:1, UN General Assembly 2016).

 Paying attention to the role of education for refugee and migrant children’s wellbeing, international documents stipulated the responsibility of states to protect the human rights of refugee and migrant children, particularly unaccompanied migrant children. This includes the responsibility to provide access to qualified and equitable education, ensuring that the best interest of the child is a primary consideration in all policies concerning children (UN General Assembly 2016, United Nations 1989, United Nations 2023).

 However, due to the absence of legal mechanisms to request asylum or migrate to Europe, refugee and migrant children often lack the necessary protection to guarantee their mental and physical health. Thousands of migrant children are stranded for long periods in African or Asian countries exposed to human treatment and abuse by mafias. Besides experiencing abuse, migrant children died in their attempts to migrate to Europe crossing the Mediterranean sea (UNICEF 2023, UNICEF España 2023). Moreover, restrictive migration policies implemented since 2016 in order to guarantee the right of European democracies to regulate their state territories have considerably limited the rights of migrant-refugee children (Benhabib 2004a, 2004b; Thorburn, 2018, 2019a, 2019b; Francia, Neubauer,  & Edling, 2021). 

However, in February 2022, the European Parliament showed a more open migration policy regarding refugee children, by approving a resolution to protect Ukrainian children and young people fleeing the war with Russia. In this resolution, the countries and members of the EU are committed to implement measures to protect children and young people fleeing the violence of war, facilitating their integration into the societies of the host countries. Nevertheless, these positive measures targeted to Ukrainian children can be implemented in different forms and extension at national level (European Parliament 2022; European Union Agency of Asylum 2023; Noticias Parlamento Europeo 2022). In Spain the “Order PCM/169/2022, of 9 March, which develops the procedure for the recognition of temporary protection for persons affected by the conflict in Ukraine” stipulates that all applications must be resolved within a maximum period of 24 hours. Poland introduced an act of March 12, 2022, on aid to Ukrainian citizens in relation to the armed conflict which facilitated the organisation of the refugees’ stay in the country.  Even In Sweden  Ukranian refugees can apply for a temporary residence permit according to the EU's mass migration directive, if  they have arrived in Sweden on or after October 30, 2021, and have stayed in Sweden since they date of their arrival.  If they don't meet the conditions the need to apply for asylum to receive this protection. 

In order to develop comparative knowledge on refugee and migrant children as rights holders in EU countries, this contribution analyses current education and migration policies in Poland, Spain and Sweden during the year 2022.

In this research, Sara Ahmed's (2007) concept ofwhiteness is used in order to pay attention to what kind of children's bodies are recognized as rights holders in the selected countries as well as  in which contexts this recognition takes place.

Following questions guide the study:

• In which  way do education and migration policies guarantee refugees and migrant children 'rights to and in education in each selected country?
• Which similarities and differences concerning these policies can be found between the selected EU-countries ?

The contribution is based on comparative education research project (Bray et al., 2007) in which educational policies concerning migrant and refugee children in Poland, Spain and Sweden were analysed. There are several reasons why Poland, Spain and Sweden have been selected for the analysis. Poland sits on the Eastern Borders Route and has recently become an important entry point for refugees from Africa and the Middle East, as well as being a major recipient country for Ukrainian residents fleeing the Russian invasion in 2022. Spain has historically been one of the main entry points to the European continent from Africa. Sweden was one of the countries with the highest number of asylum applications from migrants during the refugee crisis of 2015. This research was static because the analysis focused on the state of the issue topic at a specific moment in time, i.e. the year 2022. The method used was content analysis of selected European and national regulations (EU acts, national laws, ministerial ordinances etc.) addressing migrants and refugees, as well as governmental and non-governmental reports documenting the outcomes of the application of these regulations for migrant and refugee children in the selected countries. The United Nation Convention of the Rights of the Child and international legislation aimed at protection of refugees and migrants guided the analysis. The conceptual framework was based on Ahmed's theory of whiteness (2007), which allowed for the identification of differential treatments of refugee and migrant children with different ethnic and national backgrounds. Previous comparative studies on national policies concerning the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development and the Convention of the Rgihts of the Child were used for contextualisation. Intertextual reading of the selected migration and education policies is used in order to analyse the way in which the interplay of these policies create possibilities or obstacles for the enactment of refugee and migrant children's rights to and in education.

The findings of this research show the need to focus on the interplay of migration and education policies in order to analyse the right to and in education of refugees and migrant children in EU/Europe in times of restrictive education policies. Based on an intertextual analysis of the interplay of policies, the preliminary findings of this ongoing research shows that the existence of both a selective and a limited enactment of international legislation protecting refugees and children's rights to and in education. The findings demonstrate both differential treatment of refugee and migrant children with varied backgrounds, and the nationalist orientation of the states, which result in infringements of children’s rights, including to and in education. For instance, Spain has adopted some policies aimed at facilitating the reception of the Ukrainian population, based on the European Union's official position of welcoming Ukrainians. Meanwhile, in North Africa, specifically in Ceuta and Melilla (Spanish territory), there have recently been serious incidents that have violated migrant and refugees' human rights. Even in Sweden restrictive migration policies regarding certain ethnic/national children groups questioned the international conception of refugees and migrant children as rights holders. Concerning the Ukrainian refugees’ children, the interplay between Swedish migration and education legislation results in limitations regarding their rights in education. In addtion, policies concerning refugees, including refugee children’s education, introduced in Poland reflect both the state’s nationalist orientation and differential treatment of migrants with varied backgrounds. Consequently, differential treatment regarding different "refugees -migrant children bodies" (se Ahmed 2007) create inequalities in relation to the rights of different children groups to be recognized as rights holders in EU/Europe. Moreover, the lack of legal mechanisms to request asylum or migrate to EU/Europe hider the enjoyement of the rights to and in education agreed upon as a right for all children by international legislation.

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