Voices from Central Asia No. 18, August 2014 The Voices from Central Asia series is a platform for experts from Central Asia, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Mongolia, and the neighboring countries. The series promotes the diversity of opinions expressed by Central Asians and is a venue for researchers, senior officials, opposition figures, and civil society activists. From Pamirs to the outside world: Seeking decent jobs Kavikas Kuhistoni PhD, independent journalist, Khorog Migration, a dangerous rite of passage revealed that the crime had been committed by a group of radical Russian nationalists. The remote Pamiri village of Pashor, situated in the Shugnan region, recently received its worst On December 28, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs news about one of its migrant workers: 32-year- of Tajikistan, concerned by this brutal murder, old Shohdzhon Rakhmatshoev was brutally handed a protest note to the Russian Embassy in murdered while abroad. This news has outraged Tajikistan demanding a thorough investigation people. The incident unfolded as follows: On the into the murder, a speedy arrest, and swift evening of December 26, the body of a murdered punishment for the culprits. Moscow prosecutors man was found on General Antonov Street in did act by filing a criminal case over the murder, Moscow. As reported at the time in the Russian however four months have passed with no media, the murder was committed with extreme results. brutality. The man's throat was cut and the body riddled with 25 stab wounds. During the Pashor villagers say that when Shohdzhon’s body investigation it was discovered that the victim was returned home, they deliberately hid the was Shohdzhon Rahmatshoev, a citizen of cause of his death to his aging parents, opting Tajikistan. Unfortunately, Rakhmatshoev’s body rather to tell them that their son had passed away and face were so badly mutilated that identifying as a result of food poisoning. Shohdzhon had him took quite some time. Further investigation worked in Moscow for the past five years. He, VOICES FROM CENTRAL ASIA No. 18, August 2014 along with his three brothers, had been one of the of work in 2013. Among them, about 33,000 are thousands of migrant workers from Badakhshan recorded as residents of Badakhshan, of which working in Russia. One month prior to his murder men constitute an overwhelming majority. he was married to a girl from his village who had However, according to unofficial data, the current also come looking for work in Moscow. total number of migrant workers from Badakhshan is around 80,000 people. Shohdzhon’s brothers bitterly recall that his tragic death came at the end of his honeymoon. Main reasons for migration According to them, xenophobia is on the rise in Moscow, and there is particularly strong hatred Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO) toward Central Asian migrants. They also say that is part of the Republic of Tajikistan. This is the there is no escape: to sit at home without work is only autonomous region in the republic. It was not an option. They need to work in order to legislated into existence on January 2, 1925 by support and provide for their families. Thus, they central decree of the USSR. Badakhshan borders continue to leave home for Russia. three countries with different styles and levels of development and political structures. It borders The Migration Service of the Government of the Kyrgyzstan to the north, China to the east, and Republic of Tajikistan recently stated that in Afghanistan to the south and to the west. The 2013 the bodies of about 600 Tajik citizens were total area of Badakhshan is 64,200 km² (44.9% of returned home, dead of various causes in foreign the territory of Tajikistan). The city of Khorog, an lands, mainly Russia. This is an average of almost administrative center with a population of about two bodies per day. Islam Rakhmatullaev, a chief 30,000 people, is located 527 km east of the specialist of the Migration Service, believes that capital city of Dushanbe. this is a high figure. He says that the figure “includes 67 Tajik citizens killed by violence, The GBAO has a population of 200,260 people (and) 238 dead from diseases.” According to Jafar (according to the 2010 census) and is Ozodbekov, deputy head of the migration service characterized by ethnic and religious diversity. of the Ministry of Labor, Migration, and According to the census, 94% of the population of Protection in GBAO, there were 54 individuals GBAO is Tajik and 5.8% Kyrgyz. Tajik Pamiri live from Pamir killed in Russia in 2013. In the first mainly in the western part of the region two months of 2014 five bodies have already (historical Badakhshan), subdivided into several arrived from Russia, of which two are homicides. ethnic and religious groups; the bulk of the Pamiri (about 60% of the population) speak Referring to the increasing deaths amongst ancient languages from the Eastern Iranian migrant workers, Jafar Ozodbekov stated his branch: Shugni, Rushan, Ishkoshim, Wakhan, and belief that labor migration to Russia has become Yazgulem. Most of the Pamiri who live in more dangerous for Tajiks. The number of Shugnon, Rushan, Roshtqala, Ishkoshim, and migrants who are tragically killed in Russian partly those in the Darvoz districts, adhere to the cities is increasing from year to year. However, Shia Muslim strand of Islam. Darvoz and Vanj the number of people migrating to Russia and people, as well as the population from the other CIS countries is also increasing. Ishkashim district of Badakhshan all speak local (Badakhshani) Tajik-Persian dialects. Vanj, most In early March of this year, the Federal Migration of Darvoz, Yazgulem, and Kyrgyz from Eastern Service of Russia published a memo on foreign Pamir adhere to Sunni Islam. nationals living on the territory of the Russian Federation. According to it, as of March 2014, Today many people from Badakhshan live there were roughly 1,034,000 Tajik citizens in outside the region. Even in pre-Soviet times labor Russia (while Tajikistan’s total population is only migration from Darvoz and Vanj to outside about 8 million). This includes roughly 854,000 regions was high. In addition, during the Soviet men and more than 180,000 women. According era, people from Darvoz, Vanj, and Rushon were to the Migration Service of Tajikistan, about resettled by the regime in the valleys and cotton 800,000 Tajik citizens left the country in search growing regions of southern Khatlon. As for 2 VOICES FROM CENTRAL ASIA No. 18, August 2014 Pamiri Ismaili, the bulk of their migration took dissatisfaction with it, also accounts for the place during the Soviet era when they constituted increasing migration of teachers from Pamir. a significant part of the Tajik intelligentsia based in the capital. During the civil war (1992-7) many Remittances role in GBAO economy of them were forced to return to Badakhshan. There is a sizeable diaspora of Pamiri Ismaili that According to the main department of the still lives in Dushanbe, Khujand, and Khatlon. Statistics Agency under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan in Badakhshan, about Mamadou Alimshoev, head of the Department of 1,000 new jobs were created in the region in History, Archeology, and Ethnography in the 2013, which is a 5% increase as compared with Humanities Institute of the Academy of Sciences the previous year. Most of the employment was in GBAO, believes that there are currently several created in small business, trade, and the service factors that are forcing the Pamiri population to industries. Average monthly wages in these migrate. According to him, Pamir, with its natural sectors range, according to the same source, geographic and climatic conditions, is considered between $200 and $300. However, given the very to be the “hardest” region in Tajikistan. Its high unemployment rate in Tajikistan, this salary available land, which is not arable, can feed a is not enough to suspend voluntary labor farmer for a maximum of six months. It is migration, which continues to develop, mainly in impossible to grow enough vegetables and fruits remote, underdeveloped, and poor regions such in the mountains to create a commercial supply. as Badakhshan. Another reason that pushes people to leave is the complete absence of industrial and commercial According to the Federal Migration Service of enterprises. During Soviet times Khorog was Russia, men constitute almost 83% of the total home to twelve manufacturing and industrial number of those leaving the country. Asadbek enterprises, while today none of them are Amonbekov, head of an independent community operational. Due to the distance of the region in Bidiz, in the Roshtqala district, says that today from large industrial and cultural centers and the the migration of young women is a much more small market of the GBAO, private business is frequent occurrence than in the past. According developing very slowly. to him, this can be explained by the fact that many young men leave home to work in Russia According to Alim Sherzamonov, chairman of the and forget about or neglect their families back Gorno-Badakhshan office of the Social home, or they indulge in alcohol and do not send Democratic Party of Tajikistan, migration growth money home to support them. Women then leave is also affected by domestic political intrigues. for Russia to “take control” of their husbands and During Soviet times the Pamiri worked in almost at the same time take on small jobs to accumulate all regions of the country, but mainly in the more savings. Many couples also migrate capital, including in government institutions, together to save money for their children's former party organizations, and law enforcement education.