Tripartite Technical Meeting on the Access of Refugees and other Forcibly Displaced Persons to the Labour Market

The Governing Body at its 326th Session agreed to convene a “Tripartite technical meeting on the access of refugees and other forcibly displaced persons to the labour market” with the objective to provide practical guidance on the application of policy measures to facilitate refugee and displaced persons access to the labour market in a manner that yields positive gains for concerned populations, as well as host working populations.

Please note that this Meeting is by invitation only and not open to the public.

Globally, almost 61 million people are forcibly displaced by conflict, violence and human rights violations, overwhelmingly in emerging economies. This is more than at any other time since World War II. As displacement becomes increasingly protracted, cities may offer better economic prospects than camps and rural areas. But access to urban labour markets is usually constrained by unclear legal status and degree of enjoyment of economic and social rights. Competition in the highly crowded informal economy, where most forcibly displaced people search for work, can also results in unfair competition for unauthorized and unprotected jobs.

The wider socio-economic consequences of forced displacement have triggered intense debates globally on how to develop appropriate and sustainable policy responses to these challenges. Discussions have taken place within the ILO during a side event organised at the 104th Session of the International labour Conference (ILC) in June 2015 and during the 325th and 326th Sessions of the Governing Body in November 2015 and March 2016 respectively. In this context, the Governing Body at its 326th Session agreed to convene a tripartite technical meeting on the access of refugees and other forcibly displaced persons to the labour market.

The purposes of the Tripartite Technical Meeting are to:
  • Discuss for adoption a set of Guiding Principles to inform policy measures on the access of refugees and other forcibly displaced persons to the labour market based on relevant ILO standards and other related human rights instruments, as well as good practices where these exist.
  • Recommend ways to disseminate and give practical effect to such ILO guidance, including to inform national and multilateral responses and forums.
  • Prepare the ILO and its constituents to contribute to international events addressing global concern about refugees and forced displacement, in particular the UN General Assembly Summit addressing large movements of refugees and migrants and the US Summit on the refugee crisis both to be held in September 2016.