On Tuesday, June 27, 2023, we held a roundtable discussion on the topic of Employment of Migrants as a Response to Labor Market Challenges in cooperation with the City of Sisak and the Civil Rights Project Sisak.

The event was attended by various stakeholders, including representatives of the Croatian Employment Service Regional Office Sisak, employers from various sectors, as well as migrants and persons under temporary protection residing in the Sisak area and its surroundings. The roundtable was moderated by Jelena Posavec Smilović from the Initiative – Center for Education.

The goal of the roundtable was to showcase initiatives and successful practices in the employment of migrants to address the challenges faced by the labour market. Participants gained insights into the work of the Croatian Employment Service Regional Office Sisak with individuals under international and temporary protection, as well as their efforts to address unemployment issues within this population, presented by Vesna Cerovski, Head of the Labor Market Department.

The legal aspects of employing migrants and labour laws were presented by Dženana Kalamujić, a lawyer at the Initiative Center for Education, and Dino Sivić, a legal assistant at the Civil Rights Project.

Dajana Toumeh Ravlija presented the unique employment model for migrants by the Jesuit Refugee Service, and participants had the opportunity to learn how the model works from a migrant who had gone through the entire cycle of the mentioned model.

During the roundtable, several challenges faced by migrants and employers in the employment process were identified, with language barriers, different work cultures, and a lack of institutional support for employers being prominent. Thanks to the roundtable, constructive dialogue was facilitated between migrants and employers, and discussions on addressing intercultural workplace challenges and promoting a culture of non-discrimination were encouraged.

This activity is carried out as part of the following projects:

1. Inclusive Sisak, led by the City of Sisak, with the Local Democracy Agency Sisak and the Jesuit Refugee Service as partners. The project is funded by the EU Asylum, Migration, and Integration Fund as a pilot project within the EPIC project.

1. The “TIP: Tolerance before Prejudice” project, conducted by the Civil Rights Project Sisak in partnership with the Civil Initiative “My City Sisak,” and funded by the Ministry of Labor, Pensions, Family, and Social Policy.

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