Syria
The ILO has a long-standing technical cooperation with Syria, which has been a member of the ILO since 1947 and has ratified 50 ILO Conventions, including all eight core Conventions.
In recent years, the ILO has been providing technical support in several key areas such as child labour prevention, labour inspection, Occupational Safety and Health and social protection.
The presence of the newly appointed Country Coordinator will allow the ILO to expand its work in Syria, and work closely with constituents and the UN to promote decent work principles and increase employment opportunities.
The ILO has also been working with neighbouring countries, including Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq to respond to the Syria refugee crisis in the region. It is doing so through multiple employment-focused interventions which seek to build the resilience of refugees and host community members and facilitate their access to formal employment and livelihood opportunities. More on the ILO Response to the Syrian Refugee Crisis
Through its emergency employment scheme, the ILO will implement an employment-intensive investment (EII) approach, which combines rehabilitating destroyed infrastructure with immediate decent job creation for women and men who have lost their livelihoods in the aftermath of the disaster.
The approach will embed decent work principles from the onset of the early recovery efforts, placing emphasis on enhancing workers’ skills and employability and improving working conditions, which can pave the way for longer-term decent work promotion.
The work is guided by ILO’s Employment and Decent Work for Peace and Resilience Recommendation (No. 205), which provides guidance for addressing world-of-work issues in response to crisis situations including pandemics, armed conflict, natural disaster, environmental degradation, and forced displacement.
The work will be carried out based on the following five actions:
The presence of the newly appointed Country Coordinator will allow the ILO to expand its work in Syria, and work closely with constituents and the UN to promote decent work principles and increase employment opportunities.
The ILO has also been working with neighbouring countries, including Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq to respond to the Syria refugee crisis in the region. It is doing so through multiple employment-focused interventions which seek to build the resilience of refugees and host community members and facilitate their access to formal employment and livelihood opportunities. More on the ILO Response to the Syrian Refugee Crisis
ILO Response to the earthquake in Syria
The ILO will implement an emergency employment scheme in Aleppo, to help restore the livelihoods of people affected by the devastating earthquakes which struck Türkiye and Syria in February 2023.Through its emergency employment scheme, the ILO will implement an employment-intensive investment (EII) approach, which combines rehabilitating destroyed infrastructure with immediate decent job creation for women and men who have lost their livelihoods in the aftermath of the disaster.
I used to work as a taxi driver, but now, with this situation, I am not working. I have a seven-year-old child, and there are no schools at the moment (…) We need all types of support."
Resident of Bustan Al-Zahra in Aleppo, whose home was devastated in the earthquake
The work is guided by ILO’s Employment and Decent Work for Peace and Resilience Recommendation (No. 205), which provides guidance for addressing world-of-work issues in response to crisis situations including pandemics, armed conflict, natural disaster, environmental degradation, and forced displacement.
The work will be carried out based on the following five actions:
- Rapid needs assessments of the affected sites to identify priority locations in which to implement the projects
- Community contracting to mobilize local communities to implement the proposed activities
- Solid and liquid waste removal and materials recovery that complement on-going early recovery operations being undertaken
- Small-scale public infrastructure recovery and repairs to provide basic services to residents
- Skills development and employability enhancement that pave the way for longer-term decent work promotion
Previous ILO work in Syria
In 2006 the ILO Regional Office for the Arab States signed a Joint Plan of Action (2005-2007) with the then-Syrian Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour (MOSAL), which focused on four strategic objectives:- Promoting fundamental principles and rights at work;
- creating greater opportunities for women and men to secure decent employment and income;
- enhancing the coverage and effectiveness of social protection; and
- strengthening tripartism and social dialogue.
- Improving the capacity of tripartite constituents to implement labour policies and legislation;
- increasing employment opportunities; and
- enhancing social protection.