Since 2016, more than 10 thousand refugees have received in Mexico the opportunity to make a fresh start through a new employmentthanks to a program operated by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
More than 1,500 of those 10,000 people to whom the doors have been opened in different companies have found in Oxxo that opportunity to have a decent job to live with, reports Business Insider Mexico.
Oxxo, a company of FEMSA Groupparticipates in the program of the UNHCR from 2019, mainly in Mexico's border states with the United States, he adds.
"We start from the idea that all people should have access to decent employment. We recognize, from the diversity agenda, the importance of including many population groups that are currently at a disadvantage," says Anabel Olivas, head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at FEMSA.
The executive explains that, from the beginning of the program, it was essential to understand that conditions in Mexico are very favorable for companies to employ people in a refugee situation.
UNHCR was key in the logistical and awareness-raising aspects to achieve the objective, since this United Nations office serves as an operating partner and consultant for the program; in addition, it brings people in refugee situations closer to Oxxo, according to FEMSA on its website.
Providing decent employment to migrants and refugees not only benefits the person who receives the opportunity, it is a way to generate community roots and allow those who have had to leave their countries of origin to start over, highlights Business Insider Mexico.
"Mexico, being such a noble country in terms of access to rights for refugees, offers many employment opportunities. This gives you the master key to integration because it facilitates access to social security systems, financial inclusion, as well as a series of rights and benefits that would otherwise be very complex," says Claudia Sepúlveda, UNHCR's National Officer for Durable Solutions..
He believes that transferring the program they currently have with FEMSA to other companies and sectors would open the doors to lasting solutions in terms of social integration; in addition, it would allow migrants to have a closer relationship with the places where they arrive and weave networks.
Source: Business Insider Mexico
