Just ahead of World Refugee Day, 41 multinational companies today (Monday, June 19) pledged to provide jobs, training and access to work opportunities for more than 250,000 refugees in Europe.
Some of these companies include Accenture, Adco, Amazon, Cisco, Generali, Hilton, International Space Station, Marriott International, Microsoft, Randstad, Starbucks and The Body Shop.
The pledges, which will be implemented over the next three years, were announced at a business meeting in Paris organized by the Tent for Refugees Partnership.
It is a global trade alliance of more than 300 companies committed to helping the economic integration of people who have fled their countries due to war and political persecution.
“Having money and a job can help them feel more respected and included,” says Margot Slattery, the International Space Station’s global director of diversity and inclusion. This action gives them a chance to come to work in the morning and integrate into their [new] community.”
Slattery noted that the move also allows them to stand on their own two feet without relying on social services in their new country.
Although most of the pledges announced on Monday include refugees of all nationalities, Ukrainian refugees, who numbered more than five million last year, have a special place.
The commitments announced on Monday are the largest set of commitments announced during the Chadari Partnership, which was established in 2016.
But aid to the 250,000 refugees covers only a fraction of the people who need jobs. According to the estimate of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the number of refugees in the world has reached 35 million people, of which more than 12 million people live in Europe. And of course, this does not include the millions of forcibly displaced people who have not received refugee status.
