ILO response to Syrian refugees

Almost five years into the Syrian conflict, the ensuing refugee crisis remains one of the
largest, most protracted and complex humanitarian emergencies of modern times.
According to UNHCR registration data, more than 4.1 million Syrians have now fled their
country. Due to the crisis, the Arabic countries saw a sudden increase in the population as
the people started fleeing out of Syria. Nearly about 620,000 men, women, and their
families moved to Jordon as Syrian refugees. In Lebanon, nearly 1.1 million registered Syrian
refugees were estimated in the month of October of 2015. To this, hundreds of thousands
unregistered refugees may have to be added. The Same trend was witnessed in other Arabic
countries including turkey, Egypt and Iraq witnessing 2.1 million, 130,000 and 250,000
registered Syrian refugees respectively.

The Syrian civil war and the subsequent emergence and spread of Islamic states resulted in
devastating impacts on the Arabian countries. All of the components of Syrias GDP have
dropped. It then comes as no surprise that the life expectancy has dropped from 70.5 years
in 2010 to an estimated 55.4 years in 2015. Beyond the human tragedy, the conflict has
disrupted the functioning of the economy. It has led to weak economic growth, stressed
public finances and export disruption

Against this backdrop, the Regional Refugee Response and Resilience Plan (3RP) in response
to the Syria crisis was launched by the United Nations in December 2014. The 3RP is a
country-driven, regionally coherent plan to address refugee protection and humanitarian
needs, build the resilience of vulnerable people and impacted host communities and
strengthen the capacity of national delivery systems in the five most affected countries
neighbouring Syria. It was launched with the purpose to respond to both the growing
demand for protection and humanitarian assistance for refugees from Syria. Within the
framework of the Regional Refugee Response and Resilience Plan, the ILO has adopted a
development-focused and employment driven strategy to support host communities and
refugees.
The International Labour Organisations response to the Syrian refugee crisis was the
regional refugee and resilience plan which was in support of the national emergency plans.
These plans focus on the following: -
Helping the refugees to have access to employment and labour markets: The ILO has
been in regular contact with the national policy makers, trade unions and various
organizations relating to employee development on how to provide access to work for
Syrian refugees. ILO has to work out such policies so that it results in a win-win situation for
refugees as well as the host countries.
Improving economic infrastructure through Employment Intensive Investment
Programmes(EIIP): These programmes promote techniques optimising the use of labour
thus creating jobs while creating decent work standards for workers.
Improving access to market-based vocational and technical education and training: The
ILO supports TVET as part of crisis response to ensure improved quality of skills
development targeted to the needs of the market
Supporting employment business development projects: ILO supporting these projects
creates short-term employment opportunities with longer-term prospects.
 Improving regulatory framework for Syrian workers: ILO provides innovative approaches
that allow the refugees to have access to the work permit.

The ILO strategy is a development focused and employment driven in its support to host
communities and refugees so as to maintain and reinforce the social and economic stability
of the affected neighbouring countries
Out of all the components of the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan 2015-2016, the
livelihood components have so far received the least attention. More recently, attention has
been toward building a more integrated approach which brings together both humanitarian
and development aspects of crisis under one framework.
The ILO strategy builds its primary objective to promote employment, social relations and
protection and rights at work through these three key pillars:
Supporting evidence-based policy development to ensure an employment-rich national
response, embedded in the principles of decent work.
Contributing to building the resilience of host communities by enhancing access to
employment opportunities and livelihoods.
Strengthening institutional capacities and coordination to combat unacceptable forms of
work, with a focus on child labour.

In order to implement the strategies, the International Labour Organisation has to work
closely with UN agencies and Bretton Woods institutions which including the office of
United Nation High commissioner of refugees(UNHCR), The Food and Agricultural
Organization of the United Nations(FAO), United Nation Children Fund(UNICEF), The World
Bank etc.
A high level regional dialogue was organised by ILO (Istanbul, turkey, 28-29 July 2015) which
brought together representative from the five principle host countries i.e. Jordon, Lebanon,
Turkey, Egypt and Iraq and a range of international partners with a view to assessing the
responses of the mechanisms applied by different host countries to provide Syrian refugees
access to work and better livelihood.