71th UN General Assembly
Statement of ILO's Deputy Director-General Gilbert Houngbo at the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this roundtable.
This is the moment when the international community is challenged to respond urgently, collectively and effectively to unprecedented refugee crisis, to do so by upholding the obligations of international law and on the basis of shared responsibility.
The ILO welcomes the adoption today of the New York Declaration and its commitments for a Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework. It is committed to meeting fully its own responsibilities within this Framework, with a sharp focus on refugees and labour markets.
It is clear that the chance to have access to decent work opportunities is fundamentally important to adult refugees. And it is equally clear that communities receiving large numbers of them frequently face challenging labour market conditions. Our interest then must be in building the resilience of refugees and local communities alike, and creating conditions for growth and job opportunities for both.
Refugees have significant potential to contribute to their host countries. Their engagement in the labour force can help to contribute to the local economy, give dignity and purpose to their lives, and build the skills necessary for rebuilding their country when they are able to return safely to it.
How we work together to foster this potential will be crucially important. It involves great challenges but these need to be measured against the costs of inaction. Large numbers of refugees will work and are already working in the informal economy, and we are in some countries witnessing an alarming rise in child labour among nationals as well as refugees. Moreover, the dangers of human trafficking and slavery emerging on a large scale should encourage us to manage the labour market dimensions of the refugee crisis not as an incidental issue but as a priority.
The ILO is concerned above all with helping member States address these challenges.
An example of a new and timely tool is the ILO’s recent adoption of Guiding Principles on Access of Refugees and Other Forcibly Displaced Persons to the Labour Market, which will be taken up by our Governing Body in November. They are framed by the international law contained in ILO standards but also good practices and the added value of social dialogue.
It is encouraging to note that the New York Declaration and Refugee Responses Framework highlight the need to mentor vocational and skills training, entrepreneurship, employment creation and business investment. Achieving these shared goals will require targeted financial but also technical resources. The ILO has made a firm commitment to play its role to bring its normative guidance, technical models and tools to support member States – as we are doing now for example in our support to Jordan under the Jordan Compact.
I am pleased as well to announce the recent reaffirmation of the ILO’s close collaboration with UNHCR through a Memorandum of Understanding signed in July, that includes our co-commitment to work together on key priority areas under a comprehensive Plan of Action. This joint work can contribute significantly to promoting decent work as a bridge between humanitarian action and development cooperation.
To conclude, the ILO looks forward to working with its multilateral system partners, governments, workers’ and employers’ organizations to meet the commitments made here today in the Comprehensive Refugees Response Framework, and in moving towards the Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.
This is the moment when the international community is challenged to respond urgently, collectively and effectively to unprecedented refugee crisis, to do so by upholding the obligations of international law and on the basis of shared responsibility.
The ILO welcomes the adoption today of the New York Declaration and its commitments for a Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework. It is committed to meeting fully its own responsibilities within this Framework, with a sharp focus on refugees and labour markets.
It is clear that the chance to have access to decent work opportunities is fundamentally important to adult refugees. And it is equally clear that communities receiving large numbers of them frequently face challenging labour market conditions. Our interest then must be in building the resilience of refugees and local communities alike, and creating conditions for growth and job opportunities for both.
Refugees have significant potential to contribute to their host countries. Their engagement in the labour force can help to contribute to the local economy, give dignity and purpose to their lives, and build the skills necessary for rebuilding their country when they are able to return safely to it.
How we work together to foster this potential will be crucially important. It involves great challenges but these need to be measured against the costs of inaction. Large numbers of refugees will work and are already working in the informal economy, and we are in some countries witnessing an alarming rise in child labour among nationals as well as refugees. Moreover, the dangers of human trafficking and slavery emerging on a large scale should encourage us to manage the labour market dimensions of the refugee crisis not as an incidental issue but as a priority.
The ILO is concerned above all with helping member States address these challenges.
An example of a new and timely tool is the ILO’s recent adoption of Guiding Principles on Access of Refugees and Other Forcibly Displaced Persons to the Labour Market, which will be taken up by our Governing Body in November. They are framed by the international law contained in ILO standards but also good practices and the added value of social dialogue.
It is encouraging to note that the New York Declaration and Refugee Responses Framework highlight the need to mentor vocational and skills training, entrepreneurship, employment creation and business investment. Achieving these shared goals will require targeted financial but also technical resources. The ILO has made a firm commitment to play its role to bring its normative guidance, technical models and tools to support member States – as we are doing now for example in our support to Jordan under the Jordan Compact.
I am pleased as well to announce the recent reaffirmation of the ILO’s close collaboration with UNHCR through a Memorandum of Understanding signed in July, that includes our co-commitment to work together on key priority areas under a comprehensive Plan of Action. This joint work can contribute significantly to promoting decent work as a bridge between humanitarian action and development cooperation.
To conclude, the ILO looks forward to working with its multilateral system partners, governments, workers’ and employers’ organizations to meet the commitments made here today in the Comprehensive Refugees Response Framework, and in moving towards the Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.