Slovenia – On 21 November 2016 the IOM office in Slovenia organized an International Conference on Labour Integration of Beneficiaries of International Protection. The event which took place in Grand Hotel Union Business in Ljubljana featured guest speakers from Belgium, The Netherlands, Spain and Slovenia.

The conference was organized by IOM Slovenia with the purpose to present the outcomes of the research on the labour market integration of refugees which the office conducted between June and August 2016. Challenges identified during discussions with 20 beneficiaries of international protection, such as the language barrier, discrimination and poor knowledge of local labour legislation and workers’ rights were presented to representatives of civil society organizations, the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, the Asylum Centre, the Employment Service of Slovenia and several cultural mediators. Furthermore, the programmes and initiatives of different national and international stakeholders were presented in order to discuss existing successful or promising practices which address challenges such as the difficulty in establishing social networks which can support access to employment, limited engagement of the private sector and lack of targeted support programmes to address individual needs of a diverse group of refugees in Slovenia.

With the increasing numbers of beneficiaries of international protection, the Slovenian Employment Service is preparing new targeted programs to address existing challenges, which were presented by Brigita Vončina. Julie Bodson from the Belgium-based organisation Duo for a job spoke about the intercultural and intergenerational mentoring scheme as a promising new model of labour market integration. Michael Ogubai from the UAF - Foundation of Refugee Students from The Netherlands presented the initiative of labour market integration of higher educated refugees by private sector engagement. Regional perspective on labour integration was shared by Eva Pons from the IOM Regional Office in Brussels, while Carlotta Mielgo from IOM Spain presented the office’s labour integration projects and successful collaboration with the private sector. The concluding session of the conference enabled a discussion on how to best approach the identified challenges, during which participants emphasised the importance to increasingly involve schools and universities as well as municipalities and local communities in the general integration process. Supporting a positive and balanced media perception of migrants and refugees is also key to tackle stigma and prejudice which may hinder the hiring of the target group.

The conference was followed by a stakeholder consultation on the role and engagement of employers in the process of labour market integration, which took place on 25 November 2016 in Ljubljana. The consultation was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, the Employment Service of Slovenia, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, the Counselling Office for Migrants and Association Odnos. The participants exchanged information on several newly developed programmes, such as the job-on-the-job training scheme which will be provided by the Employment Service and qualification recognition of primary education in case of lack of certificates or other documents. The participants stressed the importance of introducing sustainable programmes which should build on the successful pilot projects implemented this year as a result of the increased number of asylum seekers in Slovenia.

Both events were made possible with the financial support of the Migrant and Refugee Fund of the Council of Europe Development Bank.

For more information, contact IOM Slovenia, Tel.: +386 14347351, Email iomljubljana@iom.int.