Yet, a critical challenge is whether people affected by displacement enjoy the right to work, can access labour markets and have decent employment. This challenge is even more complex for those working in the informal sector, in the emerging digital economy, or without the appropriate work or other permits. Women are likely to face gender discrimination and sexual exploitation in addition to these obstacles.
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is increasing its activities in this area and our aim is to have the majority of Information, counselling and legal assistance (ICLA) programmes implementing projects in this area by the end of 2025. This can be done through stand-alone legal protection interventions or as part of Livelihoods, Food Security or Youth Education programming.
In practice, this means that displacement-affected populations receive information and legal counselling or assistance to access decent employment, resolve labour disputes, and navigate regulations related to self-employment, small businesses, or workers’ associations. Considering that access to livelihoods and employment is often dependent on accessing other rights such as legal identity or legal stay, so our programmes adopt a holistic approach to the legal needs of displaced populations.
We conduct research about legal frameworks and underlying barriers to inform programming and which me make available to a wide range of stakeholders to provoke change on policy and practice.
You will find NRC’s reports below.
