On World Refugee Day, 20 June 2023, Congress demands that states around the world undertake their responsibility to provide safe haven to those fleeing persecution, conflict and the impacts of climate change.
We know that according to the UNHCR that today more than 1 in every 74 people in the world have been forced to flee from their home. At the end of 2022, 108.4 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations and global warming.
Ongoing and new conflicts have driven forced displacement across the globe. The Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 created the fastest displacement crisis, and one of the largest, since the Second World War. At the end of 2022, a total of 11.6 million Ukrainians remained displaced, including 5.9 million within their country and 5.7 million who fled to neighbouring countries and beyond. The vast majority of people seek refuge in less wealthy countries. Low- and middle-income countries host 74% of the world’s refugees and other people in need of international protection. The least developed countries provide asylum to 22% of the global total.
Refugees are being put at further risk as populist right-wing political forces, on the rise across the world, fuel xenophobia and racism. Congress denounces all forms of discrimination and racism and will continue to combat those who seek to divide us. Refugees who are seeking a safe haven must be welcomed into our unions, workplaces and communities.
Congress has been shocked by the tragedy that unfolded in the last week off the coast of Greece in which hundreds of refugees remain missing and feared dead, many of whom are women and children. This is one of the worst and most shocking refugee-related tragedies in Europe of the past few decades. Congress calls on the EU to take urgent and decisive action to prevent further deaths and put safety and solidarity at the heart of its action in the Mediterranean.
Congress believes that refugees have the right to decent work. Many face enormous barriers to accessing decent work opportunities. Many face challenges in the labour market linked to language barriers, a lack of skills recognition, an absence of training opportunities and insufficient or absent public services for job-matching. We must work to ensure that all barriers are removed to ensure that refugees and asylum seekers can work in dignity.
Refugees have rights at work, including safe and healthy working conditions, equal pay for work of equal value and social protection. As trade unions, we stand with refugees and reiterate that our doors are open to them.
