As Mexico celebrates Children’s Day on 30 April, CSW is calling on the country’s Ministry of Public Education (SEP) to work with state authorities to ensure that no religious minority child is prohibited from attending school because of their religious beliefs or those of their parents. The SEP recently announced plans for a phased return to school for all children after more than a year of school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

CSW has documented a range of violations experienced by religious minorities in educational settings in Mexico as part of its Faith and a Future campaign, which highlights the discrimination and harassment faced by children in educational settings on account of their religious beliefs. CSW continues to receive reports of such violations, amid other violations of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), in areas where the Law of Uses and Customs is in effect.

The Law of Uses and Customs, which is meant to protect indigenous culture and traditions, is supposed to be practised in accordance with the Mexican constitution and, for example, requires that fundamental human rights, including the right to an education, are respected. Article 3 of the Mexican constitution guarantees free, compulsory, secular education, while Article 24 guarantees the right to FoRB. In reality, however, the government at both the state and federal level does little to enforce this.

The majority of the violations of FoRB linked to abuse of the Law of Uses and Customs occur in states with a significant indigenous population, including Chiapas, Guerrero, Hidalgo and Jalisco. In these areas children are often forced to participate in overtly religious activities against their beliefs, are bullied by fellow pupils and teachers, and face pressure to convert to the majority faith.

In some areas of the country, local authorities regularly pressure religious minorities to convert to the majority faith, and to participate actively in activities such as religious festivals linked to the majority faith through financial support or physical involvement. If members of the religious minority decline to participate, local leaders often strip them of basic services, including education by barring their children from school, as well as access to water and electricity.

In extreme cases, religious intolerance results in forced displacement. Children who have been forcibly displaced frequently lack the required paperwork to enrol at a school in their new place of residence, meaning they are more likely to be deprived of an education.

CSW’s Head of Advocacy Anna-Lee Stangl said: “As Mexico makes plans for all children to begin returning to school, measures must be taken to ensure that children of all religions and beliefs or none are free to fully enjoy their fundamental right to an education alongside their right to FoRB without fear of harassment, intimidation or discrimination in educational settings or anywhere else. As Mexico celebrate Children’s Day, CSW calls on the Ministry of Public Education to work with state government authorities in states where FoRB violations occur to ensure that all children have equal access to an education regardless of their religious beliefs or those of their parents.”