UNHCR comments on the draft General Comment on the Right to just and favourable conditions of work (article 7 ICESCR)

The UNHCR has released its Comments on the draft General Comment on the Right to just and favourable conditions of work (art. 7 of the ICESCR). As part of its mandate, UNHCR has a direct interest in the right to work for – and in that regard to just and favourable conditions of work for – asylum-seekers, refugees and stateless persons. This paper is a landmark contribution to promote the right to work of asylum seekers and refugees. It is a most welcome text for refugees' advocates as it details the rights of refugees TO work and AT work emanating from the Geneva Convention on Refugee Status and ICESCR and clarify their content. UNHCR is the international authoritative source in charge of interpreting Geneva Convention and provide guidance that should be followed by State, institutions and non-State agents. Full text is available here.

It is also worth noting that UNHCR recalls that it has established a Memorandum of Understanding (1983) with the ILO and in 2012 explored how labour mobility can facilitate durable solutions without undermining protection principles (UNHCR and the ILO co-organized a workshop in Geneva in September 2012 on "Labour Mobility for Refugees", more information available at: http://www.unhcr.org/pages/509a85da6.html).

In providing these comments, UNHCR seeks to draw attention to two important points. Firstly, refugees and stateless persons constitute an important group of persons with specific vulnerabilities in exercising their work rights. Secondly, although refugees and stateless persons’ work rights are more specifically protected under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951 Convention) 1 and its 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1954 Convention relating to the Protection of Stateless Persons (1954 Convention), respectively, the ICESCR constitutes an important additional source of rights for both groups. 

The ability to engage in decent work is a fundamental human right, integral to human dignity and self respect. For refugees, asylum-seekers and stateless persons, it can be crucial to their survival and self sufficiency. Indeed, without work rights, they cannot legally access labour markets, open businesses, trade in their goods, or earn wages. Work rights assist them to provide for their families and to contribute to their hosting communities. 

Asylum Access and The Refugee Work Rights Coalition release Global Refugee Work Rigths Report

Asylum Access and the Refugee Work Rights Coalition have recently released the publication, Global Refugee Work Rights Report 2014: Taking the Movement from Theory to Practice. We reproduce hereafter the abstract of this major paper (as posted on Asylum Access Refugee Work Rights blog). 

The report examines the laws, policies and practices for refugee work rights in 15 countries around the globe (affecting a total of 30% of the world’s refugee population). The reports' findings reveal that almost half of the 15 countries examined in the report have a complete legal bar to refugee employment, and in the countries where some legal right to work exists, significant de-facto barriers to employment, like strict encampment, exorbitant permit fees or widespread discrimination, undermine refugees’ ability to access lawful employment.

In simple terms, refugees’ work rights are respected as the exception, not the rule.

The publication also calls upon stakeholders – governments, UN agencies, civil society, refugee and local communities – to take concrete steps to bring national employment laws and policies around the world into line with international human rights and refugee law standards. In doing so, the report (i) provides a breakdown of the right to work under international law, which may be used by advocates to inform policy makers of their legal commitments; (ii) an explanation of the economic arguments in favor of granting refugees’ work rights, which may be used to supplement legal arguments; and (iii) concrete recommendations for achieving legal reform, and administrative and judicial support for work rights domestically.