How can we close the vast gulf between rights and reality for refugee workers?

Forced displacement impacts all aspects of a refugee’s life, including their working life. For refugees, the workplace should, under international law, be a place where they are treated fairly. In practice, however, they are regularly excluded from systems designed to prevent and redress unfair treatment at work.

Centering the voices and perspectives of refugees, authors Emily E. Arnold-Fernández and Yusra Herzi examine refugees' experiences at work in comparison with their rights under international law. Confronting the ways in which states and international organizations act — or fail to act — to affect refugees' experiences of work, this book offers practical recommendations for new ways to bring refugees’ lived experiences of work in line with international norms that promise fair and equitable treatment in the workplace.

Touching on themes of displacement, equity, and inclusion, this book is ideal reading for students of Refugee/Forced Migration Studies, Labor Studies, Employment Law, International Human Rights and International Development.

Emily E. Arnold-Fernández is a Senior Associate with the University of London School of Advanced Study and the founder of Asylum Access, a leading global refugee human rights organization. She has previously served on the board of University of Oxford's Refugee Studies Centre and as Managing Editor of Forced Migration Review.

Yusra Ali Omer, a displaced legal professional who has lived in Kuala Lumpur and Toronto, is currently a Program Officer (Forced Displacement) at PILnet, a global network for public interest law. She previously served as work rights program officer at Asylum Access Malaysia.