KNOMAD study on Refugees' Right to Work and Access to Labor Markets

Refugees' Right to Work and Access to Labor Markets

A December 2016 study produced under the KNOMAD's Thematic Working Group on Migration and Development finds a generally restrictive approach to refugees’ right to work across 20 countries that have taken in 70 per cent of the world’s refugees. Most are reluctant to ease these restrictions too.

The majority of refugees work in the informal sector, but under much less satisfactory and more exploitative conditions compared with nationals. Informal labour markets are also constrained in countries with fragile economies which often host large numbers of refugees, says the study.





The research concludes that:
-more national and international coordination is required,
-multiple actors should share in the responsibility to deliver decent work,
-labour market policies as well as training and education should be harnessed to support sustainable livelihoods,
-refugee social capital should be more effectively engaged. 

Letting asylum seekers work would save UK government £233.5 million per year

The governement could slash as much as 25% off the £233.5 million annual bill for asylum support payments if asylum seekers and those refused asylum who cannot go home were allowed to work in the UK, says a new report from a Warwick University research project. The report’s authors say the European standard is to grant access to the job market if individuals have been waiting for 6 months or more for a decision on their claim.Forcing people to live in poverty is not a deterrent for those considering coming to the UK, nor does it encourage those already here to leave, the report continues.

New study on Refugees' Right to Work and Access to Labor Markets

Refugees' Right to Work and Access to Labor Markets

A new study produced under the KNOMAD's Thematic Working Group on Migration and Development finds a generally restrictive approach to refugees’ right to work across 20 countries that have taken in 70 per cent of the world’s refugees. Most are reluctant to ease these restrictions too.

The majority of refugees work in the informal sector, but under much less satisfactory and more exploitative conditions compared with nationals. Informal labour markets are also constrained in countries with fragile economies which often host large numbers of refugees, says the study.
The research concludes that:
-more national and international coordination is required,
-multiple actors should share in the responsibility to deliver decent work,
-labour market policies as well as training and education should be harnessed to support sustainable livelihoods,
-refugee social capital should be more effectively engaged. 

Coalitions needed towards humane reception policies to promote already existing solutions

Are politicians lagging behind companies, NGOs&trade unions? 

At a time when reception system in Europe are sometimes overwhelmed and new asylum seekers / refugees will face challenges to integrate in the host labour markets and not experience poverty, it seems particularly absurd to legally bar them from working. Barring them from working risks only to make them more vulnerable to exploitation and increase the workforce available on the black market (increasing competition for the other workers, resulting also in the loss of taxes for the State and disempowerment of asylum seekers). 

We strongly believe that NGOs, companies, trade-unions and business associations should voice their concerns and unite in common political campaigns to promote the right to work of asylum seekers and refugees so as to remove existing legal and practical obstacles to their access to the labour market.

Broad coalitions needed!

Refugees will have the right to work, why not employ them?

We would like to reproduce the recent article from the Guardian (Refugees will have the right to work, why not employ them?)  that focus on recent positions of compagnies in the UK or Germany to promote the employment of asylum seekers and refugees. 

Europe may be deeply divided over how to host hundreds of thousands of refugees coming to the continent this year, but some companies are now considering the struggles new arrivals will face finding work. Business leaders in Germany have responded to the refugee crisis by calling for the thousands of people arriving each day to be given help to find employment.

“If we can integrate them quickly into the jobs market, we’ll be helping the refugees, but also helping ourselves as well,” the head of the BDI industry federation, Ulrich Grillo, told the AFP news agency earlier this week. Other business bodies in Germany have backed calls for an easing of restrictions so that skilled refugees can help the country fill gaps in its workforce.

Some socially responsible businesses in the UK are now wondering how they might help newcomers find jobs.

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. 

Understanding the informal economic activity of refugees in London (a Community Links and the Refugee Council Report)

A report on the cause of informal activity within refugees community by Community Links and the Refugee Council

Community Links and the Refugee Council released, in 2011 a report on the cause of the participation of refugees in informal activities. The report identify ways for refugees to enter mainstream employment and formalise their informal activities.  

Background of the study

In December 2009, the Mayor of London launched a three year strategy for refugee integration and committed to support an inquiry into London’s informal economy to identify ways for refugees to enter mainstream employment and formalise their informal activity.

A selected bibliography (with hyperlinks) on the right to work of asylum seekers by Julien BLANC

We would like to provide you with the following (non extensive) bibliography on the right to work of asylum seekers and refugees. The following themes are covered: 

- National campaigns/ situation in Cyprus, Germany, France & Ireland.

- Obstacles and discrimination experienced by asylum seekers to access the labour market, 

- ECRE Recommendations and papers on the right to work 

- Researches to "deconstruct the pull factor theory" and research findings on the right to work  as a factor influencing secondary movement

- Researches on the human and financial cost of denying the right to work, on exploitation

- Research and position papers of trade unions and local administration on the topic

- Research, case law and norms relevant (Universal, regional,in the EU, the UK or South Africa)

This bibliography will usefully be completed by consulting the SRLAN webpage on the economic, cultural and social rights of refugees.

Asylum seekers and the right to work in the United Kingdom

We reproduce the following article (04/11/2011) by Melanie Gower, from the UK parliament website detailing the conditions to beneficiate for the right to work in the UK, its current limitations, and the impact of the Reception Condition Directive on UK domestic law.

The Right to Work of Claimants for International Protection, a Legal Toolbox

A research paper, by Julien BLANC*

Abstract

The capacity of refugees and asylum seekers to integrate in the host country or to find a durable solution abroad is enhanced when the receiving State hosting the asylum seekers recognize their right to engage legally in self- employment, wage- earning employment or in liberal profession at an early stage of the refugee status determination process. Many States have nevertheless de-coupled granting automatically permission to work from the introduction of individual application claims for international protection on the basis of migration deterrent concerns and the right of States to regulate employment of foreigners. Restrictive domestic interpretations of human rights law and standards have lead this vulnerable category of migrants to suffer from unduly prolonged period of deprivation and denial of their right to work by the State, amounting to forced destitution, in breach of human dignity.

This paper may interest persons who examines the right to work of international claimants for protection from a legal perspective. It aims to increase awareness and facilitate applicability of the right to work of claimants for international protection at domestic or regional levels by detailing the relevance of international and regional norms and standards for claimants in need of international protection.