The right to work for refugees is vital, an essential step towards integration and social inclusion. Providing comprehensive support systems that empower refugees by enabling access to employment is critical.
Employment and Human Need
You might not have heard of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It is a theory that posits five tiers of human need, from the most basic to the most advanced:
- Physiological Needs: The biological requirements for human survival. Food, water, warmth, rest, and breathing.
- Safety Needs: The desire for order, predictability, and control in our lives. Personal and financial security, health, and protection from harm.
- Love and Belonging Needs: The psychological need for interpersonal connections. Friendship, intimacy, trust, acceptance, receiving and giving affection, and being part of a group (family, friends, or work communities).
- Esteem Needs: The need for respect, self-worth, and validation. Self-respect, achievement, mastery, independence, status, prestige, and the desire for reputation or respect from others.
- Self-Actualization Needs: The realization of a person’s full potential and the desire to become everything one is capable of becoming. Personal growth, pursuing creative goals, peak experiences, and self-fulfillment.
To ensure people achieve personal growth and fulfilment, culminating in self-actualisation, safety needs which encompass personal security, employment, and health must be met. Employment is a key step on the path to self-actualisation, as it enables a person to provide for themselves and for others. However, the path to employment is often constrained by legal status, social barriers, and unequal access to opportunities. This challenge is particularly pronounced for refugee communities. Laws and regulations governing the right to work often vary across countries, creating barriers that limit refugees’ access to stable employment and economic opportunities.
Barriers to Refugee Work Rights
While Article 24 of the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol state that refugees should be treated like nationals, with equal working hours, pay, and treatment in their host country, but that most certainly does not happen in countries like Britain and America. The 2022 Global Refugee Work Rights Report finds that an estimated 55 per cent of refugees live in countries where their right to work is significantly restricted or where labour protection is poor. Lack of protections, such as minimum wage and health and safety laws, create unsafe working conditions, which leave refugees vulnerable to exploitation and clandestine, undeclared or unlawful employment.
Why is the Right to Work Important for Refugees?
Working not only provides financial stability and economic upward mobility but also brings independence and a sense of self, both of which are necessary for refugees to feel a part of society. The capacity to engage in employment offers opportunities to enhance not only the economic circumstances of individuals and families but also the society in which they live. A growing labour supply even helps lower inflation, creating more employment opportunities. Growing the labour market can expand a society’s productive capacity. With greater workforce diversity, addressing complex problems in business and the economy becomes easier, thereby driving faster productivity growth.
While there are benefits to having refugees in the workforce, xenophobia, racism, and sexism continue to exist. When a society experiences economic inequalities and marginalisation of access to basic social and economic conditions, there is a tendency for racist and xenophobic rhetoric to rise. Additionally, the increase in racist and xenophobic narratives is fuelled by a narrow interpretation of a nation’s government obligation to protect refugees, resulting in the stereotyping of refugees as “bogus asylum” seekers, criminals, and the cause of unemployment.
Alongside the difficulties refugees have in obtaining legal working rights, female refugees have often faced additional barriers in accessing employment and opportunities. While it is important to grant refugees the right to work, it is equally important to ensure that this right includes the opportunity to pursue a career that provides them with the same benefits as their male counterparts.
How Integration Impacts Refugees and Host Communities: Ugandan Model
Local integration offers refugees the opportunity to integrate socially and economically into their host communities. For instance, in Uganda, refugees can engage with society through their right to work and freedom of movement. Freedom of movement is crucial. As in many other countries, where refugees face restrictions on their movement and are confined to refugee camps it is problematic. This approach benefits refugees by promoting self-reliance and integration, while also contributing to host nations’ economic development and social cohesion.
Looking Ahead
While organisations such as the UNHCR work with states, development organisations, and the private sector, it is important to recognise that creating employment opportunities for refugees is not straightforward. It requires a multifaceted approach that addresses legal barriers, cultural integration, and access to necessary resources, all of which are essential to fostering a supportive environment where refugees can thrive and contribute to their new homes. Simply granting refugees the right to work will not improve their situation on its own; it must be accompanied by support programs that teach skills and knowledge. Without the right to work and freedom to move, their basic rights are undermined, keeping them dependent on aid and unable to contribute. Refugees didn’t choose to leave home and have skills that can benefit host communities if given a chance. Promoting positive relations helps dispel stereotypes and builds inclusive societies, empowering refugees and enriching communities. While the Uganda model can guide other nations, each must develop tailored plans, as a one-size-fits-all approach may not suit everyone.
Image above by Free Fun Art from Pixabay
