IOM Successfully Concludes Major International Conference on Refugee Labour Mobility in Europe
Brussels, 17 September – Last week, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) successfully held the Displaced Talent for Europe (DT4E) Conference, which brought together over 130 participants in person and 160 online, including EU and international experts, civil society organizations, employers, policymakers, governmental representatives from 18 countries, and displaced talents. This two-day event was the first major gathering in Europe dedicated to putting complementary labour pathways into practice, serving as a pivotal forum for discussing and shaping the future of refugee labour mobility in Europe and beyond.
Across Europe, employers are facing a growing shortage of skilled workers, driven inter alia by the natural decline in the working-age population and the twin transition. At the same time, worldwide over 120 million displaced persons remain unable to enjoy the right to work and international mobility opportunities due to their displacement status. Bridging these two challenges, DT4E has established an innovative legal labour pathway that connects displaced individuals based in Jordan and Lebanon with European employers. The DT4E pathway facilitates the sustainable integration of displaced talent into the labour markets of Belgium, Ireland, Portugal, and the United Kingdom.
Funded by the European Union (EU), DT4E is led by the IOM and is implemented in cooperation with Talent Beyond Boundaries, Fragomen, Fedasil, and AIMA, the Portuguese Agency for Integration, Migration, and Asylum. An imminent expansion of the programme, under the EU-funded DT4E 2.0, will welcome France and Slovakia as new destination countries, continuing the efforts to expand labour mobility for displaced talent across Europe. This is fully in line with the third objective of IOM's 2024-2028 Strategic Plan, which focuses on facilitating pathways for regular migration.
Participants celebrated and marked DT4E’s successes, including the 129 candidates who have been hired to date and who have been integrated across the healthcare, Information Technology, legal, and other sectors. 89 family members have joined the relocated talents, embarking on a new chapter together in Europe. At the event, success stories were shared directly by DT4E alumni who participated in the sessions and workshops as well as through the premiere of a dedicated video that showcased testimonies from partners, stakeholders, employers, and displaced talents involved in DT4E.
"We need a whole-of-government approach and develop a policy framework to attract and retain international talents," said Jamila El Masbahi, Economic Migration Lawyer at the Department for Work and Social Economy of Flanders.
The DT4E Conference also underscored the importance of concretizing the pledges made at the Global Refugee Forum by EU Member States and other stakeholders to actively contribute to facilitating displaced persons' access to labor markets through mobility pathways.
"The DT4E Conference has made clear the importance of complementary labour pathways in the establishment and promotion of safe and regular migration routes. Pilot initiatives like DT4E showcase the immense value displaced talents can bring to Europe, addressing labour market gaps and driving growth, while also offering opportunities for displaced talents to attain a durable solution that recognized their skills and education," said Marise Habib, Chief of Mission of IOM Belgium and Luxembourg
Key topics of the conference included reflections on the DT4E initiative as well as a focus on the employers’ perspective and private sector engagement, the challenges and opportunities identified by displaced talent for the scaling of this initiative, and the current legal framework on refugee labour mobility in Europe. Interactive workshops aimed to gather innovative ideas and solutions to a number of themes including sustainable finance models, language and diploma recognition, integration, and healthcare pathways.
"We need to remove all barriers so that attracting skilled refugees becomes child's play for our employers. Let's start by simplifying diploma recognition and skills validation," said Kitty Weyns, from the International Relations department of VDAB, the Public Employment Service of Flanders.
Looking ahead, the expansion of the Displaced Talent for Europe initiative under DT4E 2.0 will also welcome new partners, including VDAB, the Migration Office and the Research and Innovation Authority of Slovakia, the French Ministry of the Interior (Directorate General for Foreigners), Kodiko, and Pathways International. IOM and its partner organizations will continue to advocate for and champion the implementation of regular labour mobility pathways as a crucial component of European migration policy.
Watch the DT4E success video:
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Note to editors:
DT4E is funded by the EU’s Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) and connects skilled professionals in need of international protection based in Jordan and Lebanon with employers in Belgium, Portugal, Ireland and the United Kingdom, and soon in France and Slovakia. This labour mobility scheme is led by skills shortages and driven by employers' needs. The objective is to create a win-win scenario whereby skilled professionals and their families are lifted from displacement to a durable solution.
For more information, please contact:
Jozefien Dierynck at IOM Belgium & Luxembourg, jdierynck@iom.int
Hannah Julia Bogaert at IOM Belgium & Luxembourg, hbogaert@iom.int