Cooperative response to migrant and refugee situations

Article | 14 November 2016
Last year there were an estimated 244 million international migrants representing 3.3 per cent of the global population – over 150 million of these were migrant workers. In addition, there are over 65 million people forcibly displaced by conflict, violence and human rights violations of which 21.3 million are recognized as refugees and registered asylum seekers.

Cooperatives are well-placed to provide a part of the response to both refugee and labour migration situations. In fact cooperative interventions have been used to deliver on refugee crises across the world in recent years. To explore these options further, on 22 October ILO COOP participated in a seminar on cooperatives and migration in Naples, Italy, organized by an Italian cooperative federation Federsolidarietà – Confcooperative as part of their Social Cooperatives International School for over 30 cooperative practitioners from around Europe.

The international seminar included representatives from the Italian Ministry of Interior, Confcooperative, UNHCR, and the ICA. The lively discussion moved from the Italian experience to an international perspective. The ILO presentation focused on pilot interventions by the ILO in working through cooperatives in responding to labour migration in the Philippines, India and Trinidad & Tobago, and to refugee situations in Jordan and Turkey. ILO’s recent study suggests cooperatives have been put to good use by refugees and host communities at different stages of interventions from the start of the crisis to integration of new arrivals in the host country and reintegration of migrants when they return to their own communities. Cooperatives can for instance deliver goods and services, as well as provide employment opportunities and voice and recognition to their members.