It should make any civilized society embarrassed to deny children basic rights, including equal opportunity for education, because their parents are illegal immigrants. No child should be subject to any type of discrimination in everyday life for reasons that are not their fault.

They did not choose their parents or the place they live in. It would be unfair for a child to be discriminated against due to conditions given to him or her through birth.

A sensible society should assume moral responsibility for providing them with an appropriate environment to enable them to grow up to lead a decent and meaningful life. To our regret, not many Koreans could be sure their society has fairly and properly treated the children of illegal immigrants here, most of whom are low-skilled workers.

The unregistered foreign children, as termed in Korean law, have been left largely unattended in education, health care, nurturing and other social services. Korean society now needs to step up efforts to guarantee basic rights for those hapless children, whose number is estimated to have exceeded 20,000.

Among other things, measures should be taken to ensure they have equal access to education. Thresholds to schools remain higher for illegal immigrants’ children who entered the country with their parents or were born here.

Under the law, those children can be admitted into elementary and middle school if records of entry or residence are submitted. In reality, however, their parents often keep them from going to school out of fear their illicit status will be revealed or simply because they have no knowledge of the legal clause. Guidelines drawn up by the Education Ministry allow them to enter high school. But they are not legally binding, leaving the final decision to school principals, whose attitude is usually less than enthusiastic.

Even if the unregistered foreign children attend school, they still face many obstacles to studying and playing with their Korean peers on a level field. Lacking a 13-digit foreign registration number like their parents, they are often denied access to online education sites and school homepages. It is virtually impossible for them to enter college as they cannot be issued necessary documents under the current system.

It is a pity to see those children away from school as a rumor of a crackdown on illegal immigrants goes around. Consideration may be given to measures implemented in the U.S., Germany and other advanced nations to enable such children to attend school without fear of their status being revealed. In the U.S., for example, schools are obliged to refrain from demanding Social Security numbers from all students to prevent discrimination against unregistered students.

Besides education, children should not be left out of the child care and health care systems because they don’t have an alien registration number.

In recent years, some civic groups here have raised their voices for protecting basic rights for foreign children but their moves have failed to see the introduction of a relevant law. It is encouraging that a dozen groups are joining hands with some lawmakers to submit a bill on guaranteeing their rights within the first half of this year. A debate to be arranged by them at the National Assembly on Wednesday should be an occasion for looking into the conditions surrounding unregistered children and ways to improve them.

Korea, which signed up for the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991, has since been repeatedly asked by commissions of the global body to take steps to correspond to its spirit. The country should act now not to be subject to such requests any longer.

Some might argue that establishing a system to fully guarantee rights for their children might lead to an increase in the number of illegal immigrants here. Certainly, efforts are needed to work out a broader public consensus on immigration and multicultural policies.

But it concerns the core of basic rights to do away with unjust discrimination against children based on the legal status of their parents. All Koreans should be reminded that it not only fits humanitarian principles but also helps make their society more stable and morally mature to guarantee the rights of illegal immigrants’ children.