Last year the world watched in horror as Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in mere weeks. While the images of refugees are both heart-wrenching and infuriating, for those who survive this gauntlet, there are hosts of parasites and middlemen who wait to take advantage of their desperate status.
I was a refugee and later, a migrant worker, having fled my home country as a boy. I lived in Austria and Italy and can testify first hand to the dangers of refugee life and of the opportunists who entrap and enslave vulnerable people. After immigrating to America, I worked to become a lawyer, an activist, a father, and an entrepreneur.
Wherever migrants or refugees can be found, corrupt practices exist that prey upon these vulnerable people. Private missions often incur huge rescue costs, and refugees often remain dislocated without opportunity to work and make the money that sets them on a new path of independence. Consider what it might mean for refugees to be placed in regions in grave need of workers, enabling them to start over while breathing new economic life into the countries and communities that accept them.
Vulnerable populations seldom possess the political or economic power they need to gain a better lot in life. Unstable economies, security, and economic disenfranchisement are leading causes of radicalization, criminal activities, smuggling, and warfare.
It is essential to acknowledge that across the developing world, populations are reaching increased longevity, leading to critical shortages of young workers that fuel economic growth. According to the United Nations, “one in six people in the world will be aged 65 years or over” by 2050. Germany, The United States, Japan, and many other major economies will need young workers to keep up with demand for products and services. At this moment, we have an opportunity to address both concerns. If global migrants and refugees are to travel around the world to solve labor shortages, first-world nations must step up and take responsibility to hold employers accountable and demand ethical practices to protect workers.
Political leaders, titans of business, and international humanitarian groups need to acknowledge the urgency of this crisis and of this opportunity to act. We must cultivate technology that generates a seismic social impact and develops global infrastructure to help them. When governments, businesses, and technological innovators fail to step up and address social problems, the most vulnerable suffer when their plight is monetized by wealthy actors who seek to profit from chaos.
Currently, a lack of tools for coordinating the global movement of people is leading to serious abuses and corruption in the evacuation and resettlement of refugees. Standardization is sorely needed across the world to ensure optimal outcomes. We already know that technology can make an important social impact, but only if it is wielded by governments and groups with ethical motivations.
We must reject efforts to cash in on the suffering of migrants, refugees, and vulnerable persons. It’s not enough to simply understand the migrant community — we all need to lend a helping hand as well. We should loudly support current resettlement efforts and help migrants find affordable housing and careers as soon as possible. We need to commandeer technology, and the power of the globe, to streamline and permanently digitize the process of relocating and integrating migrants.
While we as individuals cannot help the masses of jobless, displaced, or hungry people, there is something we can do — and demand as global citizens — that has a far-reaching impact on people and peace as a whole.
We can establish and implement ethical practices for hiring transitory workers. ● We can facilitate arrangements with governments and with employers to provide them with the workers they need. ● We can use technology to create a transparent process and provide support vehicles that benefit both the employer and the employee.
This is where our culture’s righteousness can be leveraged for real change and action. Commit to ensuring that refugees, migrants, and other vulnerable workers can enjoy the rights they deserve without being exploited by those who seek to profit from their situation. With a global agenda to help vulnerable persons on the move, we can radically defy corruption and prioritize the upholding of human rights around the world. Ethical recruiting is the solution and we make that a reality by building relationships with governments and businesses, and transparency in connecting skilled workers to employers in need of worker.
About Joblio, Inc
Jon Purizhansky is Founder and CEO of Joblio, a leading technology SaaS platform and app designed to provide skilled labor with employers throughout the world, while actively bringing change to the global migrant labor industry. Joblio prevents fraud and ensures compliance with labor laws in the processes of human capital relocation across the world. By directly connecting migrant laborers with their employers, Joblio removes middlemen from the hiring process to ensure fair and prosperous employment. In 2021, Joblio received the “Excellence Innovation Award in Human Rights Protection” Award from the Abrahamic Business Circle.