Make them work for free: Italy's interior minister supports forced labour for asylum seekers?

In an article from Africa Time, dated 12 May 2015, called 'Make them work for free' it is possible to read that Italian Interior's ministry has recently declared that asylum seekers should be made to work for free on projects of public interest while waiting for their refugee status, evoking a controversial decree issued several months ago. 

The author of this blog advocates for the right to work of asylum seekers to be legally granted as soon as possible after the lodging of their asylum claim. It facilitates their integration in the labour market once they are recognized refugee, or their return (with the money and experience earned in the host country). But we condemn any policy that would force asylum seekers to work for free as it amounts to forced labour that contradicts international human rights and labour law. Between 1983 and 1990 German authorities have conditioned the material support of asylum seekers to the acceptation of jobs, provoking adamant condemnations of the International Labour Organisation. 

FRA Paper : 'Legal entry channels to the EU for persons in need of international protection: a toolbox'

In its recent paper ' Legal entry channels to the EU for persons in need of international protection: a toolbox' the Fundamental Rights Agency of the European Union (FRA) recommended the use of labour mobility schemes providing the right to work and travel to persons in need of international protection as a way to provide a safe and legal avenue towards the EU. 

Forced Migration Current Awareness Blogs' update focused on right to work of refugees

The last Forced Migration Current Awareness Blogs' update is focusing on the right to work of refugees and related economic aspects. We reproduce hereafter the thematic update articles that are of particular relevance for our blog. We also highly recommend following the Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog. We will dedicate further posts to detail the content of the following article.

Thematic Focus: Work/Economic Aspects

Rethinking Global Protection: New Channels, New Tools, MPI report

A new report from the Migration Policy Institute’s Transatlantic Council on Migration, Rethinking Global Protection: New Channels, New Tools, sketches the sources of strain on the international protection regime and outlines two new avenues that have the potential to reinvigorate it: development- and international mobility-focused approaches. 

Embedding development in humanitarian responses focuses on empowering refugees, in cooperation with host communities, to provide for their own livelihoods by granting them the right to work and opening access to land, equipment, training, and capital. The second approach would open channels of international mobility, including labor migration schemes and international study and training programs, to refugees and other forced migrants. 

“Incorporating development and mobility approaches to protection into international cooperative efforts could prove to be an effective way to create a more sustainable and dynamic response to forcible displacement,” writes Kathleen Newland, who leads MPI’s humanitarian protection work. 

MPI Report examines situation of Syrian refugees in Turkey (incl. finding work)

New MPI Transatlantic Council on Migration Report Examines Turkey’s Response  to the Syrian Refugee Crisis and the Challenges Ahead MPI Holds Event May 4 to Discuss Worsening Syrian Crisis  Turkey is currently host to the largest community of displaced Syrians in the region. Adding to the challenge, the rising refugee inflows have occurred even as Turkey was in the midst of overhauling its asylum and reception system to meet international, and particularly European Union, standards. The country, which according to United Nations estimates had more than 1.7 million Syrian refugees as of March, has largely shouldered the burden on its own—spending $5 billion as of early 2015, with just 3 percent coming from international community contributions.  A new report from the Migration Policy Institute’s Transatlantic Council on Migration, Syrian Refugees in Turkey: The Long Road Ahead, by Ahmet İçduygu, dean of the College of Social Sciences and Humanities at Koç University in Istanbul, examines the policies and conditions of Syrian refugees, as well as the implementation of reforms to Turkey’s migration law. With growing dispersion and movement of Syrian refugees through Turkey to other countries, mainly in Europe, Turkey’s experience and policies towards the arrivals have implications for the broader region. As the numbers of Syrians overwhelmed the capacity of camps funded and managed by the Turkish state and NGOs, refugees started taking shelter in towns and cities throughout the country. Many struggle to access adequate housing and services, and are forced to find work in the informal economy, often for extremely low wages. The Turkish public, meanwhile, is expressing increased concern about the high numbers of Syrians and there is a growing sense that the newcomers are driving up housing costs and competing with Turks for jobs.

With camps limiting many refugees, the UNHCR’s policy change is welcome

We would like to reproduce hereafter an article by Lucy Hovil called "With camps limiting many refugees, the UNHCR’s policy change is welcome" dated 02 October 2014 and published in The Guardian. It analyses UNHCR new position on alternative to refugee camps. 

It is rare to witness a paradigm shift in refugee protection. But such a shift has just happened with the release of the new policy from the UN high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) on alternatives to refugee camps.

For refugees and their advocates, who have been shouting for years about the perils associated with camps, the policy is almost too good to be true. As it states: “From the perspective of refugees, alternatives to camps means being able to exercise rights and freedoms, make meaningful choices regarding their lives and have the possibility to live with greater dignity, independence and normality as members of communities.” It makes perfect sense. But why has it taken so long? For decades, the default response to refugee crises has been to set up camps or settlements and coerce refugees into them. Camps, it was argued, were best suited to meet the social, economic and political realities in which refugees are living.