Migration

Kazakhstan: addressing future challenges

TABLE OF CONTENT

Overview and Objectives 3

Chapter I. Understanding labour migration in Central Asia 4

Chapter II. Key challenges to address; abuse of labour migrants’ rights 9

Chapter III. Policy measures and actions based on rights-based approach 16

Chapter IV. Conclusions 20

Bibliography 21

2

Overview and Objectives

Since no major boom in population number is foreseen, I believe that in 5 years Kazakhstan will

have to deal with the same challenges regarding labour migration which it faces today - the inflow

of temporary workers who come for a specific period of time to perform agricultural works and then

return home. According to statistics, majority of migrant workers who come to Kazakhstan are from

Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. At present, Kazakhstan’s legal framework regarding

temporary labour migrants is cumbersome and creates a number of challenges for effective and

legal involvement of this type of migrants, thus, they are finding irregular channels to come to work

to Kazakhstan and usually do not even have written labour contracts with their employers. This puts

them in irregular situation, but they have no other choice, because they cannot afford not to come to

Kazakhstan as they have families to support. After these seasonal workers arrive, because of their

irregular situation and because they are low-skilled workers who lack education and knowledge of

Russian/Kazakh language, they face many problems such as human rights violations, low wages or

nonpayment of wages at all, unsafe working conditions, no access to education for their children,

and many other discriminations. These are important contemporary issues that must be addressed by

the government of Kazakhstan, as well as countries of origin, since lives of millions of people in

Central Asian states are dependent on effective regulation of such migration. Therefore, in this

essay I will put forward recommendations on amelioration of legislation of Kazakhstan, as well as

propose policy measures and actions that should be implemented in order to manage migration well.

Using rights-based approach when formulating legal and policy measures and actions is a key to

success, since only properly regulated migration can bring benefits to all stakeholders: countries of

origin, Kazakhstan as destination country and ameliorate lives of those migrants and their families.

The objectives of this essay are: - to identify ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors of irregular migration from

origin countries - Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan to destination country - Kazakhstan, and

highlight connection between migration and development and other benefits; - to identify

problematic areas in current legislation, as well as their impacts on abuses of rights of migrants in

irregular situation, followed by suggested improvements; - to propose policy measures and actions

based on rights-based approach.

3

Chapter I. Understanding labour migration in Central Asia

‘Push’ and ‘pull’ factors

Today Kazakhstan is not only ninth-largest country in the world, but also ninth-largest migrant-

receiving country in the world1. The largest number of foreign workers who come to Kazakhstan

are from its neighbors in Central Asia (CA) – mostly Uzbekistan, then Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan2,

and this is not surprising as there are direct borders and visa-free regime. “The main spheres where

foreign work force is used are construction, agriculture where there is a demand for flexible

seasonal labour and mining industry”3. I believe it is clear that in this case the main ‘pull’ and

simultaneously ‘push’ factor for migration is economic in nature. During recent years, except for

decline due to economic crisis, Kazakhstan enjoyed rapid economic growth and development. In

comparison to other CA states with dubious economies, Kazakhstan has more liberalized economy,

more developed infrastructure, political and financial stability, as well as good functioning of

market institutions that attracted the biggest inflow of FDIs in the region4. Moreover, today,

Kazakhstan accounts for two-thirds of the GDP for the entire CA region, and thus can be called a

state with relative economic strength5. More stable economic situation, growing salaries and

demand for workers attract labour migrants from CA states6, while factors that push them are the

biggest failings of governments and globalization7

: inability to create decent employment

opportunities at home and no decent remuneration for their work. For some people labour migration

1The World Bank (2011) World Bank study Migration and Remittances: Eastern Europe and Former Soviet Union. Study

presented in Astana and Almaty on September 24-25, 2007. Available at: <http://www.worldbank.org.kz/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/ECAEXT/KAZAKHSTANEXTN/0,,contentMDK:21490935~pagePK:141137~piPK:141127~theSitePK:361869,00.html>. 2 International Organization for Migration (2011) Kazakhstan country profile. Available at:

<http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/kazakhstan>. 3 OSCE/ICMPD (2006) Consolidated Summary of the OSCE/ICMPD Workshop on Labour Migration in Central Asia:

Almaty, Kazakhstan. Available at: <http://www.iom.int/jahia/webdav/shared/shared/mainsite/microsites/rcps/budapest-process/2006_Workshop_Labour_Migration_in_Central_Asia_Summary.pdf>. 4 Diplomatie: Affaires Strategiques et Relations Internationales (2010). Dossier: Kazakhstan. Une nouvelle puissance

regionale? Magazine No 42. 5 Hindley, B. (2008) Kazakhstan and the world economy: An assessment of Kazakhstan’s trade policy and pending

accession to the WTO. Belgium, Brussels: European Center for International Political Economy. 6 International Organization for Migration (2011) Kazakhstan country profile. Available at:

<http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/kazakhstan>. 7 Cholewinski, R., Taran, P. (2010) Migration, Governance and Human Rights: Contemporary Dilemmas in the era of

globalization. Refugee Survey Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 4. UNHCR.

4

to Kazakhstan is the only source of income. Perhaps those migrants are willing to stay and work at

home, but “When people cannot find work at home in their communities and societies they look

elsewhere” (Somavia, 2006 cited in ILO, 2010: p14)8. They have to sustain their own living,

support their families, pay for their children’s education, etc. Low wages in three migrant supplying

CA states are important ‘push’ factor. There are widening disparities in income, as well as lower

living standards, poorer housing conditions in CA states than in Kazakhstan.

Besides economic factor, there are other ‘push’ factors such as political instability, human rights

violations, tribal and ethnic issues in all three countries of origin in comparison to stable

Kazakhstan. For instance, during both revolutions in Kyrgyzstan, anecdotal evidence proves that

many people were leaving the country to come to Kazakhstan, as people were afraid to stay in their

country or because their business was destroyed, etc.

Migration, development and other benefits

Well managed migration can bring benefits not only to migrants and their families, but also to

origin and destination countries.

1) Benefits for Kazakhstan as a destination country

Deputy Head of the Committee on Migration, Republic of Kazakhstan, Ms. Bagila Bisembayeva,

stated that irregular labour migration is a serious problem for Kazakhstan, because illegal migrants

are imposing pressure on domestic labour market, and there are significant losses in the form of

unpaid taxes and direct outflow of currency abroad9. However I disagree with her in two points.

What I have learned during the class on migration, is that migration should be seen through the

prism of problems and that people cannot be called illegal, but rather they should be addressed as

migrants in irregular situation.

8 International Labour Organization (2010) International Labour Migration: A rights-based approach. 1

st Ed. Geneva:

Published by International Labour Office. 9 OSCE/ICMPD (2006) Consolidated Summary of the OSCE/ICMPD Workshop on Labour Migration in Central Asia:

Almaty, Kazakhstan. Available at: <http://www.iom.int/jahia/webdav/shared/shared/mainsite/microsites/rcps/budapest-process/2006_Workshop_Labour_Migration_in_Central_Asia_Summary.pdf>.

5

Not only migrant workers need Kazakhstan, but also Kazakhstan needs migrant workers.

Kazakhstan has huge unexploited territory - six times the size of France, but very small population

of almost 16 million people - only one quarter of the population of France. But besides such

ineffective correlation between population size and territory, Kazakhstan plans to continue its

dynamic economic and industrial growth. The country put forward the following aims: to become

one of the top 50 competitive countries by 2030, to diversify its economy by developing agricultural

sector and industry. Thus, I believe Kazakhstan will need more migrant workers, especially

temporary migrant workers, as Kazakhstan prioritized the development of its agricultural sector.

Temporary migrants would be especially needed, since many Kazakh young people move today

from rural areas to towns to get education or find jobs, thus agricultural sector is missing again on

so much needed workforce. Also there is a reluctance of local workers to accept certain low-skilled

jobs. At the same time, as I discussed earlier, there will be no problem on the supply side due to

unemployment, lack of decent job, decent working conditions and remuneration in countries or

origin, where migrants are compelled to come to Kazakhstan for employment. So Kazakhstan can

use labour migration as an instrument to “adjust skills, ages and sectoral composition of national

and regional labour markets”10

which will help Kazakhstan to meet desired economic growth, as

well as labour market and productivity challenges. Kazakhstan has to identify how many labour

migrants, in what sectors and for how long according to its aims of economic development, it needs,

which will help Kazakhstan not to face problems with migrants, but to channel their so much

needed labour in areas where Kazakhstan needs.

2) Benefits for Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as countries of origin

These countries use labour migration as a partial solution to poverty reduction and domestic

unemployment11

, which in its turn reduces pressures and negative feelings at home, especially in

countries with growing young population who cannot find a job after they graduate. It decreases the

10

Cholewinski, R., Taran, P. (2010) Migation, Governance and Human Rights: Contemporary Dilemmas in the era of globalization.Refugee Survey Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 4. UNHCR. 11

Wickramasekara, P. (2010) Development, mobility, and human rights: rhetoric and reality. Refugee Survey Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 4. UNHCR.

6

possibility of protests or worse scenarios like what now happens in North African countries. Thus I

can say that labour migration by decreasing local unemployment leads to protecting ruling regime. I

believe that when people have decent work, they are paid, they can support their families, then

corruption, religious or ethnic differences would be perceived less aggressively.

The major tangible benefit from labour migration for those three CA countries is the inflow of

financial remittances. Remittances that flow to Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan are estimated

to be considerably high12

. Remittances lead to human development, as receivers can invest in

education, health, food security, savings and afford housing13

. Moreover, remittances lead to greater

entrepreneurship14

. Today, because of the decline in export earnings from traditional exports due to

global crisis, CA states especially need migration as it brings strong economic gains. That is why

not only CA republics, but other CIS states are very much concerned with economic contractions in

Russia and Kazakhstan, which could produce a large-scale return of migrants, decrease in

remittance flow and thus negatively affect economic growth. Indeed, this is exactly what happened,

for instance, in the first half of 2009, Kyrgyzstan faced 30% decline in GDP, partially due to the

decline in remittances which were coming into the country from 500 000 workers in Kazakhstan

and Russia, who are no longer employed in those countries, particularly construction industry15

.

Of course there is a downside to a large scale migration in the countries of origin, including brain

drain, however temporary labour migrants are not looking for permanent settlement in Kazakhstan,

thus as Piyasiri Wickramasekara (2010) states: “return migrants bring back human (skills and

knowledge), financial and social capital (contacts and access to networks)”16

. So the government of

12

OSCE/ICMPD (2006) Consolidated Summary of the OSCE/ICMPD Workshop on Labour Migration in Central Asia: Almaty, Kazakhstan. Available at: <http://www.iom.int/jahia/webdav/shared/shared/mainsite/microsites/rcps/budapest-process/2006_Workshop_Labour_Migration_in_Central_Asia_Summary.pdf>. 13

Wickramasekara, P. (2010) Development, mobility, and human rights: rhetoric and reality. Refugee Survey Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 4. UNHCR. 14

The World Bank (2011) Migration and Development: ECA (continued). Available at: <http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/ECAEXT/0,,contentMDK:22485499~pagePK:146736~piPK:146830~theSitePK:258599~isCURL:Y,00.html>. 15

Geneva Center for Security Policy (2010) 2nd

GCSP-NUPI-OSCE Academy Seminar: “Central Asia 2009”. GCSP Geneva Papers. 16

Wickramasekara, P. (2010) Development, mobility, and human rights: rhetoric and reality. Refugee Survey Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 4. UNHCR.

7

those three CA countries will have to manage returned capital properly, so that no “brain waste”

occurs.

3) Benefits for labour migrants and their families

I believe I already covered benefits which labour migrants and their families receive if migration is

managed well: financial support; opportunities to invest in education, health, etc; skills,

connections, and other benefits that I can summarize as better life.

A way forward

The above discussion demonstrates a clear demand in temporary migrant workers in Kazakhstan,

however Kazakhstan’s legislation and policies demonstrate incoherence and contradictions, as

numerous barriers persist. This results in growing number of migrant coming through irregular

channels. There are estimates that 500,000 to 1,000,000 migrants are in an irregular situation in

Kazakhstan17

. Moreover, there are direct borders between Kazakhstan and such origin countries as

Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as a visa-free regime which gives labour migrants from CA

states unimpeded access to the labour market of Kazakhstan. The fact that corrupted officials are

working at those borders makes borders easier to penetrate, and this complicates gathering of

reliable data on exact numbers of migrants and their further tracking. However government of

Kazakhstan should not only concentrate on tightening control, punishment and deportation

measures, but properly manage irregular and clandestine migration.

17

OSCE/ICMPD (2006) Consolidated Summary of the OSCE/ICMPD Workshop on Labour Migration in Central Asia: Almaty, Kazakhstan. Available at: <http://www.iom.int/jahia/webdav/shared/shared/mainsite/microsites/rcps/budapest-process/2006_Workshop_Labour_Migration_in_Central_Asia_Summary.pdf>.

8

Chapter II. Key challenges to address; abuse of labour migrants’ rights

After conducting research, I would summarize the key challenges that should be addressed by

Kazakhstan during reforms and development of policies for effective management of migration as

following:

1) Inadequate legal framework

When examining the legal procedures that form the basis of Kazakhstan’s migration system, it is

clear that it needs improvements, as the existing system poses barriers for employers in effective

attraction and placement of necessary foreign labour force. When looking at the procedure of

legalization of labour migrants, it could be seen that the process lies mostly with the employer, as in

order for employer to hire labour migrant, he has to go through a long and cumbersome process of

getting license and work permit, which includes several bureaucratic stages. And although labour

migrants cannot influence the process of obtaining a work permit by the employer, they are the ones

responsible for the legality of their status. So if labour migrant was hired by the employer, who did

not obtain a work permit, then that labour migrant does not have appropriate legal status, and thus

he can face legal consequences. UNESCO and OSCE ODIHR’s survey18

shows that some labour

migrants do not even know whether their employer has a necessary license or work permit for them

to be in a legal status.

Inflexibility of the procedure is an obstacle and a burden for those who wish to legally employ

foreign nationals. So UNESCO and OSCE ODIHR’s survey revealed that more than 59,9% of

employers who replied to survey stated that the procedure of obtaining a license is “too confusing

and excessive” and that it takes too much time, while 53,9% gave same reply regarding the

procedure of obtaining work permit19

. These defects in the legalization procedure create perceptions

among employers that it is more beneficial to hire labour migrants informally. Moreover, hiring

irregular migrants is seen by some employers as competitive advantage, for instance in survey by

UNESCO and OSCE ODIHR, 61,3% of employers who hire labour migrants without following

18

UNESCO/OSCE ODIHR (2006-2007) Report on the sociological study of labor migration in the Republic of Kazkahstan for the period of 2006-2007. Available in printed version. 19

Ibid.

9

established rules and procedures, replied that in this way they can avoid paying social insurance,

56,5% stated that they can pay lower wages, 39,5% stated that like this is it easier to fire migrants,

31% said that in this way they can force migrants to work more, etc20

. As many irregular migrants

have only oral agreements instead of written contracts, they are not being paid and their rights are

violated. Another important issue was given by Mr. Kayratbek Djamangulov who stated that no

applicable mechanism for the extension of temporary migrant workers’ residence period was yet

developed21

.

So it is clear that there is a number of opportunities to improve some of the procedures and

requirements necessary for obtaining and maintaining legal status to labour migrants, and I make

some suggestions in the next chapter.

2) Poor understanding by stakeholders of the migration-development link and of its impact

on social, demographic, political and economic dynamics in the region

During lectures on migration in GSD, I have realized how narrow my view on migration was. Just

as many other people, I was used to perceive migrants only from a negative side, from the stand of

state’s security, sovereignty, threat to jobs for nationals, increasing crime rates, outflow of currency

abroad, unpaid taxes, but never thought about the linkage between migration and

development/growth/and other benefits. I wish that other people, especially those key actors who

influence policies on migration would also have such opportunity as I had, to open their eyes and

start seeing how positive migration can be for everybody when it is managed properly. For now,

there is a lack of strategic focus, as Kazakhstan has ideas of its “desired future”, but contradicts its

recognition of the need of labour migrants for economic growth by still having narrow perceptions

of labour migration and regulation in the form of punishment and deportations of irregular migrants

rather than management and channeling supply and demand. I found it really unkind that Kazakh

migration police is looking for children of migrants in schools in order to find irregular migrants

and deport them.

20

Ibid. 21

Djamangulov, K. (2010) Review of existing data sources and statistics on labour migration in Kazakhstan. ILO/EC Project. Iternational Labout Organization. Available in printed version.

10

3) Lack of data and statistics on labour migration

Due to neighborhood and visa-free regimes between Kazakhstan and CA states, as well as corrupted

officials at the border control gives labour migrants easy access to the labour market of Kazakhstan,

but complicates gathering of reliable data on exact numbers of migrants and their further tracking. It

is hard to estimate the accurate size of irregular labour migrants22

. Document by Mr. Kayratbek

Djamangulov (2010)23

identified number of weaknesses and information gaps in migration data and

statistics. For instance, he concluded that no full statistics on children are available. Moreover

Deputy Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of Kazakhstan, Ms. Zhumageldyeva stated that

migration police only registers the arrival of migrants, but then no one is watching after them.24

Therefore, it is difficult to observe the migration balance of temporary workers.

More general challenges, but which are directly influencing labour migration include:

4) Weak institutional capacities and lack of enforcement

It is crucial not only to develop proper labour migration laws and policies or to sign conventions,

but more importantly to have institutional capacity to ensure that those laws and policies are

implemented and managed. Kazakhstan should have the ability to deploy necessary resources when

and where they are needed in order to ensure effective and efficient regulation of labour migration.

For now Kazakhstan needs to work on capacity building.

5) Lack of professionalism and corruption among law enforcement officials in various levels and

sectors. Both decrease transparency, justice, rights-based management of labour migration,

efficiency of developed policies and laws, as well as reaping of benefits. It is not an issue to discuss

in this paper, but I would like to note that first of all corruption is a result of problems in wealth

distribution to people, and not only moral principles of individuals.

22

OSCE/ICMPD (2006) Consolidated Summary of the OSCE/ICMPD Workshop on Labour Migration in Central Asia: Almaty, Kazakhstan. Available at: <http://www.iom.int/jahia/webdav/shared/shared/mainsite/microsites/rcps/budapest-process/2006_Workshop_Labour_Migration_in_Central_Asia_Summary.pdf>. 23

Djamangulov, K. (2010) Review of existing data sources and statistics on labour migration in Kazakhstan. ILO/EC Project. Iternational Labout Organization. Available in printed version. 24

Makulbekov, M. (2011) Deputy Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of Kazakhstan, Ms. Zhumageldyeva: Majority of labour migrants have no rights. Available at: <http://www.zakon.kz/kazakhstan/195675-bolshaja-chast-trudovykh-migrantov.html>.

11

6) Political will and inter-state cooperation

Without political will, there will be no progress at all. Moreover, there must be more coordination

among states, as international migration cannot be addressed only on domestic level. Today labour

migration goes beyond domestic borders and is thus a subject for intergovernmental norm-setting

negotiations. The challenge here is that the whole CA region is politicized, thus migration is very

dependent on personal relations among CA presidents. For instance, unfriendly relations between

President Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan and President Karimov of Uzbekistan influence the

immigration policy between the two countries. For instance, due to amendments to immigration

legislation of Kazakhstan made in 2008, citizens of Kyrgyzstan are now allowed to stay in

Kazakhstan for 90 days without registration, citizens of Tajikistan for 30 days, while citizens of

Uzbekistan can stay without registration only for 5 days25

. Kazakh government stated that

regulation of this question was not raised by Uzbekistan26

.

7) Lack of expertise

For now CA states lack expertise and knowledge on how to manage migration well, thus they need

assistance and experience of international community, including best-practices of other States,

intergovernmental organizations, NGOs.

This is my vision of key challenges that should be addressed. Kazakhstan realizes the need to

address them, but at the moment legislative and policy responses of Kazakhstan towards labour

migration are still lagging behind. According to Deputy Chairman of the Federation of Trade

Unions of Kazakhstan, Ms. Zhumageldyeva, most migrant workers live outside the legal field, they

have no rights and are willing to work under any conditions, while employers are interested in these

workers as less demanding, and use them as cheap labour27

. Therefore, migrants often fall into

25

Mavlonyi, D. (2009) Nature of the relationship between Karimov and Nazarbayev's influences immigration policy between the two countries. Available at: < http://rus.azattyq.org/content/article/1492229.html>. 26

Ibid. 27

Makulbekov, M. (2011) Deputy Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of Kazakhstan, Ms. Zhumageldyeva: Majority of labour migrants have no rights. Available at: <http://www.zakon.kz/kazakhstan/195675-bolshaja-chast-trudovykh-migrantov.html>.

12

irregular situation, and it is important to understand that irregular migrants are the most vulnerable

to abuse and exploitation.

Problems that migrants face

Irregular migrants suffer from various kinds of human rights abuses in Kazakhstan, such as

underpayment of wages, long hours and/or no days off, limited movement, xenophobia, low or no

access to health services and basic education and many other abuses28

. For temporary labour

migrants who work in agricultural sector, one more problem is that that their work is hazardous

with higher risks of accidents, and without access to health services there can be really grave

consequences. To illustrate my point I would like to provide important in my view results of two

studies. Study on “Employment of migrant workers in the informal economy in Kazakhstan” has

been published within the framework of the ILO-EU project “Sustainable Partnership for the

Effective Governance of Labour Migration in the Russian Federation, the Caucasus and Central

Asia”29

. This study revealed that:

most migrant workers did not have a written contract with the employer;

in accordance with the legislation of Kazakhstan irregular migrant workers are not eligible to

receive social security benefits.

about 20% of workers do not have a lunch break or rest during the workday. Almost 98% of

migrant workers are working longer than is allowed by the legislation of Kazakhstan.

necessary conditions for the safety and security of migrant workers were not provided. Only

13% of the enterprises that employ migrant workers had first aid kits, fire extinguishers and special

protective equipment (helmets, masks, safety ropes).

approximately one-third of migrant workers (29%) faced the problem of non-receipt of money

pledged for work performed. The analysis showed that those migrants have no real means to

address such problems. None of the interviewed migrants contacted NGOs for help and did not even

28

International Organization for Migration (2011) Kazakhstan country profile. Available at: <http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/kazakhstan>. 29

International Labour Organization (2010) “Employment of Migrant Workers in the informal economy of Kazakhstan”. Available at: <http://www.ilo.org/public/russian/region/eurpro/moscow/news/2010/0625.htm#top>.

13

know of their existence. As well as none of the workers was a member of the trade union. This

clearly illustrates that migrant workers are not sufficiently aware of their human rights and labour

rights. Many workers believe that they are not entitled to the same conditions as are enjoyed by

local workers, such as the same working hours, etc.;

approximately 40% of migrant workers were at least once detained by law enforcement

agencies of Kazakhstan, and in half of those cases workers were released after paying a bribe.

Second study to which I would like to refer to is a 115-page report document produced by Human

Rights Watch30

, which in 2009 interviewed migrants working on tobacco farms in Kazakhstan,

where Kazakh farm owners employ seasonal labour migrants. Unfortunately the study revealed that

many of those tobacco workers were abused, for instance some employers confiscated migrant

workers’ passports, did not pay regular wages, required to work long hours, etc. Moreover, Human

Rights Watch also stated that children as young as 10 were frequently working there, although

tobacco farming is especially risky for them. So protection of those tobacco workers is dependent

on the government of Kazakhstan, as well as Philip Morris, because the Kazakh farm owners

contract with Philip Morris Kazakhstan, which is a subsidiary of Philip Morris International. Thus

all key players should be responsible.

Temporary migrants who come to Kazakhstan from other CA republics usually lack education and

knowledge of Kazakh language (knowledge of Russian is usually better). This combined with the

fact that migrants have rather limited access to information about the policies on legalization of

their status in Kazakhstan, as well as about their own legal status, means that they have less

opportunities to control or improve their immigration and employment status31

.

Irregular labour migrants are afraid to go to police or other organs to get information, because they

know they will be deported or their documents will be confiscated (if employer already did not take

them), they can be forbidden to come to work in Kazakhstan for a certain period of time or they will

30

Human Rights Watch (2010) “Hellish Work”: Exploitation of Migrant Tobacco Workers in Kazakhstan. Available at: <http://www.hrw.org/node/91459>. 31

UNESCO/OSCE ODIHR (2006-2007) Report on the sociological study of labor migration in the Republic of Kazkahstan for the period of 2006-2007. Available in printed version.

14

have to give a bribe. However, voluntary return to home country is important for migrant and his

country, because returning involuntarily by being deported means that labour migrant did not have

time to acquire news skills, connections, money, savings. This means he can contribute less to the

development of his country. This also means that less remittances will flow to the country of origin,

less will be send on human development (education, health, poverty reduction, etc). And such

benefits can be lost for future, as those labour migrants can be forbidden to work again in

Kazakhstan for certain period of time.

Denial of rights doesn’t allow labour migrant to realize his potential, nor does it allow countries of

origin and destination to benefit from his work. So addressing key challenges discussed above, as

well as providing support mechanism to rights of labour migrants, ensuring coherent, long-term

sustainable regulation are the key areas of focus.

15

Chapter III. Policy measures and actions based on rights-based approach

This chapter presents my recommendations directed at reduction of irregular migration and at

improvement of respect of workers' rights.

1) Facilitating Labour Migration

First and foremost, inadequate legal framework must be addressed, and Parliament is a key actor. It

is necessary to rationalize the process of obtaining licenses and work permits, as well as make the

whole system of recruitment less burdensome, asking for fewer documents. It is also necessary to

implement different incentive mechanisms in order to stimulate employers to recruit migrants

through regular channels. Amendments to the legislation must be maid aimed at creating certain

guarantees to ensure respect of labour rights of migrants, such as for instance right to minimum

wage. Such amendments should also address other violations of migrants’ labour rights, such as

absence of written contracts, longer working hours, nonpayment or late or low wages, no payment

for extra hours, etc. Protection of their rights will allow migrants feel safer and not to be afraid of

verification of documents and payment of fines. Of course there must be support and guarantees for

women migrants. Also develop a mechanism that will allow extending temporary migrants’

residence period.

The above is possible only if there is a political will and commitment to address irregular migration

in a constructive way. Development of efficient migrant support system requires not only domestic

efforts, but inter-state cooperation and partnership on labour migration in whole CA region.

Ministries of Internal Affairs and Ministries of Foreign Affairs are one of key actors here. So

facilitation of migration should start from pre-departure stage, where public institutions and NGOs

should help raise awareness of migrants about their rights and obligations. Through cooperation,

Kazakhstan and countries of origin should strengthen the capacity of providing service and

necessary information on job opportunities, recruitment process, necessary documents and

legislation of Kazakhstan related to the legalization of labour migrant’s status. So vital documents

should be translated into their mother tongue and no discrimination should be made in regards to

temporary labour migrants. Right to information is an important right, which also allows labour

16

migrant to know about his/her rights and obligations, necessity to have legal status, how to obtain it

and legal consequences for not having it. Because labour migrants do not know relevant legislation,

they don’t speak the language of destination country, consequently they cannot address their

problems to law enforcement authorities or other bodies. Not being able to voice one’s opinion is a

major discrimination of human rights. There also must be language courses provided in Kazakhstan,

as well as origin countries. I could see that there is indeed work done in direction of partnership

among CA states. For instance, Government of Kazakhstan and Government of Kyrgyzstan signed

a bilateral Agreement on labour activities and social protection of labour migrants occupied in the

agricultural sector in bordering regions enforced by the Enactment of the Government of the

Republic of Kazakhstan #29 of January 16, 200332

.

Last point I would like to add it that there is need in promoting good governance and preventing

corruption among officials, as well as in dealing with labour migrants.

2) Regulating Labour Migration

i) Policy and Dialogue

As I already stated earlier, there is a poor understanding by stakeholders of the link between

migration and development, as well as lack of strategic view of its impact on social, demographic,

political and economic dynamics in the region. President Nazarbayev in the report prepared for the

board meeting with Ministry of Internal Affairs highlighted that strict mechanism against illegal

migration and expulsion of foreign illegal workers from Kazakhstan must be created. He added that

interests of Kazakhstan’s citizens are first and foremost33

. As a citizen of Kazakhstan I am glad to

know that there is a strategy to secure jobs for nationals, however I do not support the opinion that

those migrants must be expulsed. Indeed, I agree that irregular migrants are often closely linked

with crime, however we should not generalize, and especially those who influence labour migration

policies should not advance starting with such attitudes. Therefore to ensure the social cohesion and

32

OSCE/ICMPD (2006) Consolidated Summary of the OSCE/ICMPD Workshop on Labour Migration in Central Asia: Almaty, Kazakhstan. Available at: <http://www.iom.int/jahia/webdav/shared/shared/mainsite/microsites/rcps/budapest-process/2006_Workshop_Labour_Migration_in_Central_Asia_Summary.pdf>. 33

Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan (2011) Peer review. Available at: <http://www.minjust.kz/ru/node/18429>.

17

eliminating xenophobia, there is a need for education of various stakeholders: government officials,

migration police, civil society (especially children), as well as addressing media. They should

understand that those migrants are not only criminals, who came to Kazakhstan with an aim of self-

enrichment, but understand the reasons why those migrants are coming to Kazakhstan in first place

– because they have no decent work at home. Especially sensitive issue is the migration police and

other authorities, whom migrants are afraid to contact when their rights have been violated, because

they are afraid that they will be deported, that they will have to pay a fine or a bribe, that their

documents will be confiscated or that they would not be taken serious. Thus, another need is to

strengthen the role of trade unions.

ii) Labour Migration and Health

Health is directly linked with hazardous working conditions that temporary labour migrants in

agricultural sector face. If an injured labour migrant cannot access health services, he has no health

insurance because of the irregular situation that he finds himself in, then this can have fatal

consequences for him. Because health risks at jobs in agriculture or construction sectors involve

higher health costs, while those migrants are paid less, so even if they can access health services,

they cannot afford them. So those labour migrants have to use their right to have access to health

services, otherwise they should be paid some sort of compensation. Moreover, no access to medical

health services means that migrants can spread different diseases that they might have within the

community in Kazakhstan. Especially this includes HIV/AIDS. So government of Kazakhstan loses

a possibility to prevent, identify or treat those diseases.

iii) Data and Research

Reliable data on the scale of labour migration in Kazakhstan does not exist, mostly due to the fact

that it often comes to irregular migration about which there are no official statistics in the country34

.

There is a clear need to strengthen data collection and research in the Central Asian countries to fill

information gaps on labour migration, which will allow for better balancing of supply and demand

34

International Labour Organization (2010) “Employment of Migrant Workers in the informal economy of Kazakhstan”. Available at: <http://www.ilo.org/public/russian/region/eurpro/moscow/news/2010/0625.htm#top>.

18

for temporary workers. Moreover, information is crucial in decision making when developing and

implementing migration policies. Otherwise if there is no reliable data, policies would be based on

wrong assumptions and figures. Key player here is Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of

Population of the Republic of Kazakhstan35

.

3) Labour Migration for Development

Importance of remittance was already stressed enough earlier, thus I would just suggest that CA

states cooperate in promoting a more effective transfer of remittances, especially keeping in mind

the fact that labour migrants in irregular status often cannot access safe ways for remitting funds36

.

For instance Piyasiri Wickramasekara (2010)37

suggests providing opportunity to transfer money at

low costs.

4) Families of labour migrants

As the definition of temporary migrants suggest, they just come during certain seasons and then

return back home. Thus I assume that majority of them are coming to Kazakhstan without their

families. However, I believe that despite their temporary stay, they should have same rights to bring

their family with them, and those families should not be deprived of any rights, especially this

should apply to children. There must be a proper regulation, where children of labour migrants

could go to schools and not be used as a mean to track their parents.

5) Cooperation with international community

As was already stated earlier, CA states lack expertise on regulation of labour migration using

rights-based approach, as well as they have weak institutional capacities and lack of enforcement.

Therefore, there is a need to foster exchange of experiences with international community (States,

intergovernmental organizations, NGOs) on migration policy and legislation development. And I

could see that indeed Kazakhstan shows initiative, as country hosts various conferences and

seminars on labour migration. For instance, already in 2006 Almaty held an international seminar

35

Djamangulov, K. (2010) Review of existing data sources and statistics on labour migration in Kazakhstan. ILO/EC Project. Iternational Labout Organization. Available in printed version 36

Wickramasekara, P. (2010) Development, mobility, and human rights: rhetoric and reality. Refugee Survey Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 4. UNHCR. 37

Ibid.

19

“Labour migration in Central Asia” which was organized by OSCE center in Almaty and

International Center for development of migration policy. Most importantly among invitees were

officials from the Ministries of Labour and from national immigration and other state services of

Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine, as well as experts from

international and regional organizations. In 2007 a seminar was held where presentations of World

Bank studies on migration and related aspects were made and where invitees included

parliamentarians, representatives from ministries and government agencies involved in migration

policy-making, representatives from international development agencies, civil society

organizations, research institutions, private sector, as well as the media. I think these two events are

already a great initiative. An up-coming event in Astana at the end of March this year proves

continuous commitment of Kazakhstan to improve its management of migration.

Chapter IV. Conclusions

The topic of labour migration is very complex and multi-dimensional as it influences economic,

social, cultural, and political aspects of countries’ development, but more importantly individual

peoples’ lives. The purpose of this essay was to identify challenges that Kazakhstan can face in

future and propose concrete ideas on how to facilitate and regulate labour migration regimes,

especially for temporary labour migrants who come to work only during certain seasons in

agricultural sectors. My proposals would contribute to the decrease in irregular migration and

associated risks, as well as respect for labour migrants’ rights and improvement in economic and

social development for receiving and supplying countries.

I have to note that there is a lack of research on CA states in general, not only in the field of

migration. This knowledge gap has to be addressed. If I decide to continue with the same topic for

my Master’s thesis, I would also include huge potential of labour migration from China. Moreover,

I understand that one more future challenge in internal and external migration in the CA region, but

also in other countries in the world will be an increased ecological migration. These two additional

future scenarios can be analyzed in my future research.

20

21

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