Economies: rights and access to work (Forced Migration Review 58)

The migratory journeys of birds can reflect the same complexity of issues that trigger and affect human displacement.

Health challenges in the Sahrawi refugee camps in the Algerian desert are faced by both human and animal populations, and therefore responses must function for the benefit of both.

In our main feature, authors explore the complex interactions of the constraints and opportunities involved, drawing on case-studies from around the world and highlighting the roles of new actors, new technologies and new-or renewed-approaches.

Host countries need to assess the potential for opening their labour markets to refugees, and enhancing access to decent work.

Organisations supporting recently resettled refugees to find employment should focus on providing them with the tools to navigate the employment market in a sustainable way that leads to their personal development.

The granting to Syrian refugees in Turkey of the right to access formal work was a first step towards their economic integration but a number of challenges remain.

The launch of Red Cross Denmark’s Fast Track programme, which focuses on early refugee employment, offers an opportunity to explore the relationship between local employment of refugees and the sustainability of rural life.

Refugee doctors face a number of barriers to practising medicine, despite the significant contributions that they can make.

Multi-sited fieldwork in Uganda allows for an exploration of the complex patterns of engagement between refugees’ economic activities and local economies, in urban, emergency and protracted settings.

In Rwanda, Congolese refugees have the same freedom of movement and right to work as Rwandans but the experiences and economic activities of these two populations are very different.

Our research with rural grocery store managers in Denmark suggests that the integration of asylum centres into the local social and economic life in rural areas is a key factor in successful refugee reception.

Those seeking to support economic development for internally displaced people in Colombia need to understand how and why many IDPs collaborate with armed groups and criminal organisations.

Some displaced people and their host communities have benefited economically from the consequences of conflict in Syria’s Raqqa province. Others need support – and the type of support needed will change as circumstances change.

The majority of Germany’s refugees and asylum seekers rely on government welfare and face serious obstacles to self-reliance. Integration policies must eliminate these obstacles to promote mutual long-term benefits for refugees and their new communities.

References are often made to forced migrants’ digital literacy, including use of smartphones to organise journeys and communicate once at their destinations. Other digital skills, including those relating to the workplace, are of greater relevance.

Investing in refugees’ well-being is a global public good, and the international community should work to reduce malnutrition and increase access to education for refugees in order to help build human capital and achieve better economic outcomes for all.

Showcasing refugees’ skills connects refugees to global work opportunities, and also shifts narrative from one of refugees being burdens to host countries to one in which refugees are recognised as skilled workers for whom countries should be competing.

Qualification certificates play a central role in the labour market integration of highly educated refugees but validating them presents considerable challenges. Sweden and Norway have introduced some positive developments to address such difficulties.

The international community is increasingly emphasising the need to bridge the humanitarian­–development gap. But what does this mean on the ground in terms of refugees’ livelihoods and economic inclusion?

A new study on the effects of humanitarian assistance in response to the Syria crisis finds significant positive impacts for regional economic growth and job creation.

Work permits have been at the centre of the policy debate on the hosting of Syrian refugees in Jordan. This approach needs also to involve ensuring decent working conditions for all.

Research with Syrian women refugees in Jordan suggests that, despite significant challenges, the gig economy has some potential to help refugees participate in host communities and to bolster their economic participation.

Market-based approaches in northern Uganda demonstrate the benefits of supporting local markets instead of distributing in-kind aid.

Improving access to work, as well as livelihoods programming itself, is required if the lives and livelihoods of Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia are to improve.

The refugee assistance regime that prevails today seems to insist that the best, or only, solution to protracted refugee situations is firmly rooted in improving access to employment.

The help and assistance that refugees offer each other is central to the lives of many displaced people. Recognising this allows support for displaced people to be reconceived in more sustaining and empowering ways.

Refugees in Kenya face multiple barriers to accessing their rights. The work of paralegals who are themselves refugees and who support and facilitate refugees’ access to justice offers a vital service.

Established by a resettled Somali refugee and now under the leadership of his children, Kobciye resource centre works to empower Somali refugees in Eastleigh, Nairobi.

Many of the approximately 50,000 Syrian refugees living in Berlin continue to depend largely on State assistance; some refugees have also created and found additional support in active, vibrant community initiatives.

Refugee-led education initiatives in West Java, Indonesia, show how refugee communities can work with supporters to overcome service gaps faced in host countries.

The work of community-based organisations led by and in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans*, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) refugees in Nairobi, Kenya, provides important insights.

More research is needed, across disciplines, to better understand the important and varied roles that animals play in the lives of people in refugee camps.

In South Sudan, tensions arose when refugees arrived with their livestock, disrupting the existing relationships between the local population and nomadic peoples.

Refugee camps offer good opportunities for cooperation between humanitarian and animal welfare organisations for the benefit of displaced people and their working animals.

Animals play an important role in many people’s lives in displacement. Camp planners and managers need to take animals’ needs into greater account in order for displaced people to continue to benefit from this interaction.

There needs to be better understanding not only of the importance of animals in the lives of displaced people but also of the potential risks incurred by human–animal interactions and how best to mitigate these risks.