The International Labour Organization (ILO) has launched a US$600,000 plan to support formal employment for 115,000 ethnic Armenians displaced from the self-proclaimed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Many of them are struggling to find stable work, making their integration into Armenia much more difficult. The ILO fears that many will turn to informal, unregulated work as they struggle to find formal income. The ILO initiative aims to ensure that workers' rights are protected and that they have equal opportunities to enter the labour market.
The ILO initiative will be implemented in Yerevan and the provinces of Kotayk and Ararat. The ILO plans to strengthen the capacity of employment counsellors to assist refugees and to raise awareness among both host and refugee communities of the need to ensure decent and safe working conditions in sectors where refugees are often employed, such as care services and platform/gig work.
