The Right to Work of Refugees and Asylum-Seekers

20 Pages Posted: 17 Jul 2024

See all articles by Cathryn Costello

Cathryn Costello

University College Dublin (UCD); University of Oxford - Faculty of Law; University of Oxford - Refugee Studies Centre; Hertie School

Colm O'Cinneide

University College London - Faculty of Laws; University of California, Berkeley - Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law

Date Written: January 01, 2021

Abstract

This chapter, which will appear later in the Oxford Handbook of International Refugee Law, analyses the application of the right to work to asylum seekers and refugees, examining the right under international human rights law of global scope, in particular under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. While that instrument is often perceived as being normatively weak, due in part to a misunderstanding about the 'progressive realization' standard, the chapter highlights States' immediate 'minimum core' obligations under the right to work. It also assesses the right under African, Inter-American, and European regional human rights mechanisms. Some deprivations of the right to work may entail breaches of regional treaties, directly or indirectly. Restrictions on the right to work may also contribute to violations of absolute rights, such as the prohibitions on inhuman and degrading treatment, or forced labour. The chapter then looks at two possible means of securing the right to work, namely domestic litigation and transnational political processes.

Keywords: human rights law, Refugee Convention, human rights, right to work, asylum, refugees

Suggested Citation

Costello, Cathryn and Costello, Cathryn and O'Cinneide, Colm, The Right to Work of Refugees and Asylum-Seekers (January 01, 2021). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4893455 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4893455

Cathryn Costello (Contact Author)

University College Dublin (UCD) ( email )

Belfield
Belfield, Dublin 4 4
Ireland

HOME PAGE: http://https://people.ucd.ie/cathryn.costello

University of Oxford - Refugee Studies Centre ( email )

Oxford Department of International Development
32 Mansfield Road
Oxford, OX13TB
United Kingdom

University of Oxford - Faculty of Law ( email )

St. Cross Building
St. Cross Road
Oxford, OX1 3UJ
United Kingdom

Hertie School ( email )

Berlin, 30123
Germany

Colm O'Cinneide

University College London - Faculty of Laws ( email )

Bentham House
4-8 Endsleigh Gardens
London, WC1E OEG
United Kingdom
+44 (0)20 7679 1420 (Phone)

University of California, Berkeley - Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law

Boalt Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-7200
United States

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
35
Abstract Views
216
PlumX Metrics