UNHCR Discussion Paper: Reception Standards: Employment

This Discussion Paper on Reception Standards published in 2006 by the UNHCR, focuses on the right to employment os asylum seekers and refugees contains invaluable contributions on the topic.

UNHCR Discussion Paper: Reception Standards: Employment

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Regional Office for Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the South Pacific

N°. 1, 2006, pp. 5-20.

Introduction

Granting the right to work to refugees is a relatively standard practice among industrialised countries, but the same rights are not always extended to asylum-seekers and efforts to do so have faced resistance by many governments. Economic factors and deterrence measures are cited by governments as reasons not to treat asylum-seekers in the same way as recognised refugees. 

The issue of reception standards for asylum-seekers which ensure that human dignity and basic rights are protected was discussed at the 2006 October’s Executive Committee meeting of States. A particular focus was the right to gainful employment for both refugees and asylum-seekers as perhaps paramount among the articles of the Convention. Arguably, without the right to work, many other provisions could be considered meaningless.

Ahead of this discussion, UNHCR's Regional Office in Canberra invited contributing perspectives on this issue and its application in the region from the Australian Government, the Hotham Mission Asylum Seeker Project and academic Alice Edwards, who provides internationally comparative data. UNHCR's position drawn from Standing Committee papers, is also provided.

The Discussion paper contains the following articles:

• The Right to Work for Refugees and Asylum- Seekers: A Comparative View by Alice Edwards 
• Australia's Reception Arrangements for Asylum-Seekers by the Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMA)
• The Need for a Uniform Community-Based Reception Policy for Asylum Seekers in Australia by Grant Mitchell
• Moving Towards a Uniform Community-Based Reception Model for Asylum-Seeker
• Reception Standards: Employment by the UNHCR Regional Office Canberra