Young refugee leaders demand more decent work opportunities

Geneva (ILO News) - "Structures, systems and policies need to become more inclusive to allow young refugees to access decent work opportunities and live a life of dignity" asserted Deline Ramiro, a young refugee advocate and Operations & Partnerships Lead at the Solidarity Initiative for Refugees.

She was speaking at the virtual coffee chat, “Young Refugee Leaders Speak Up: Promoting Meaningful Youth Engagement”, co-organised by ILO PROSPECTS, the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth and the Global Refugee Youth Network (GRYN).

The event brought together young refugee leaders from across the globe, and provided them with an opportunity to share their stories, aspirations and hopes for the future. The virtual event facilitated an informal but rich dialogue with the leaders, who in turn represented forcibly displaced young people in their communities.

In terms of outcome, the event collated ideas from these young thought leaders on how multilateral organizations like the ILO can ensure that young persons’ needs and aspirations are reflected in youth employment interventions, how such interventions can empower them to be self-reliant and how they can ensure the protection of youth rights.

Milagros Lazo Castro, Youth Employment and Participation Officer with ILO, explained, “The coffee chat was organised as the culmination of the virtual thematic discussion on meaningful engagement of forcibly displaced youth that took placed on the Youth Foresight Community Forum to celebrate World Refugee Day 2023.”

The two month long series of discussions on the forum offered a space for young refugees, youth employment practitioners and broader stakeholders to exchange potential solutions and challenges to accessing decent work for forcibly displaced youth.

Lack of documents creates challenges for refugees in the integration within host countries. They are often stigmatized and denied education and employment opportunities

Rahildaris Marchena, Venezuelan refugee, and Digital Artist and Communications Specialist at GRYN.

Barthelemy Mwanza, a young Congolese refugee and member of the Global Refugee Youth Network echoed,

Refugees often do not have the financial means to pursue higher education. Some have educational certificates from their home country, but they are not recognised while trying to access jobs in the host country, forcing many of them to engage in informal work.

The coffee chat built on the discussions emerging from the Youth Foresight Community Forum. Makonda Ngenyibungi, a Gender, Diversity, and Education Advocate from GRYN, said, “Most refugees arrive in developing host countries, which have undersized formal labour markets. Moreover, skills mismatch makes it difficult for young forcibly displaced to enter the formal jobs. Without documentation and access to banking and financial services, entrepreneurship opportunities gets restricted as well.”

Faridah Luanda, Gender and Diversity Coordinator at GRYN said, “Young refugees are vulnerable to exploitation, including forced labour and child labour. The degree of vulnerability further increases for young men and women with disabilities. Often, young refugee women are at a high-risk of facing gender-based violence.”

While underlining the challenges, the young refugee leaders also shared practical solutions they are currently implementing in their own communities.

“We are leveraging the power of social entrepreneurship to support young refugees in becoming self-reliant and living dignified and meaningful lives,” highlighted Victor Mafigi Turatsinze, a young Congolese refugee and Co-founder of UNLEASHED, a refugee youth-led organisation in Nakivale settlement of Uganda.

We need to invest time and resources in building the skills and capacities of refugee youth. Listen to young refugees and engage with them. We don’t seek sympathy, we seek action.

Faridah Luanda

While the young refugees had diverse life experiences and perspectives, a shared sentiment united their appeal to the global community: Young refugees and other forcibly displaced youth must be meaningfully engaged in shaping youth employment policies and programs that will impact their lives.

Simon Marot Touloung summed it up by saying, “Refugee youth inclusion and their meaningful engagement cannot be an afterthought. We need organizations with the intention and commitment to make this work.”