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Planning and managing labour migration OCTOBER 2006 Edited by Roger Rodríguez Rios This publication was made possible by funding from the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration at the U.S. State Department. IOM is committed to the principle that humane and orderly migration benefits migrants and society. As an intergovernmental body, IOM acts with its partners in the international community to: assist in meeting the operational challenges of migration; advance understanding of migration issues; encourage social and economic development through migration; and uphold the human dignity and well-being of migrants. Publisher: International Organization for Migration Technical Cooperation Centre for Europe and Central Asia Nibelungengasse 13/4 A – 1010 Vienna Austria Tel.: + 43.1.585 33 22 12 Fax: + 43.1.585 33 22 30 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.tcc.iom.int ___________________ Migration Perspectives: Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 2006 (English version) Copyright 2006 International Organization for Migration (IOM) ISBN: 978 92 9069 250 9 ___________________ Cover: Richard Scott- http://www.darkrainbow.net All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher. Opinions expressed in this work are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of IOM. Acknowledgements This publication was made possible by funding from the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration at the U.S. State Department. The editor would like to express sincere gratitude to the authors participating in this volume, both for their hard work and for their courage in raising several important, yet contentious, issues in their articles. The report benefited from the input and guidance of numerous IOM colleagues and of many others. Special thanks go to Susannah Maio, Olena Malynovska, Marina Manke (IOM TCC), Alena Murzina (IOM Almaty), Svetlana Podkuiko, Saltanat Sulaimanova and Aida Yuldasheva for their patience and aid in addressing the many issues linked to preparing articles for publishing. Finally, warm thanks go to Zlatko Zigic, IOM Bishkek Chief of Mission, and to his team, for providing the support necessary to finalize the report. Neither the United States government nor the IOM nor any of their agencies or departments are responsible for the content of this report. The views expressed in signed articles are those of the individual authors and do not imply the expression of any opinion on the part of the IOM or its Member States. Foreword The publication you hold in your hand is meant to inspire and provoke. I hope it will be used by policy makers, practitioners, officials, grassroots, donors and scholars, who in their work are occupied with contributing to the development of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The publication does not intend to capture all trends in the region; neither does it pretend to be scientific and all-inclusive. The contributions from the authors are written in their personal capacities, drawing on their diverse professional experiences. The material in this publication proves that many trends are common in the region, but it too illustrates that in some aspects the developments of migration issues are very specific for each sub-region or state in the region. One such example, migration for labor purposes is a large-scale phenomena. For instance, the strong and growing economy of the Russian Federation is attracting a lot of labour migrants from other states. There are up to approximately 700,000 Tajik citizens working abroad, more than 90% of them are in the Russian Federation, legally or irregularly. With the dimension of this migration phenomenon, a number of questions need to be raised. How to address the issue of regulating these flows? What about “brain drain”? Or is it rather the so-called "brain circulation", migrants going abroad, acquiring skills and then eventually, at some point, returning to use these skill back home? The role of remittances and their estimation is another important issue for the economies and societies in the region. States realize that employment abroad is beneficial for their citizens, and thereby also for the state, and have begun negotiating labor migration agreements to further develop practical labor migration schemes. Migration has often been looked upon as a control issue in the region. Now it becomes more pragmatic and the line of thought goes, "we need migrants; we have to regulate their movements; it is good for the state that we have migrant workers here; they are helping our economy." The labour migration debate thereby increasingly becomes a discussion on supply and demand. Migration issues are high on the agenda in most countries, for different reasons, and will stay high on the agenda for a long time. The negative impact of migration on societies is often emphasized, but as most of the contributions in this publication point out, it can have many very positive effects on all parties involved and the question remains on how to maximize these positive effects for the benefit of both citizens and the states. Claus Folden Coordinator IOM Technical Cooperation Centre for Europe and Central Asia CONTENTS v Foreword viii Map of Eastern Europe and Central Asia 1 Introduction: Planning and managing labour migration Roger Rodriguez Rios 5 The Migration of Information Technology Professionals from the Post-Soviet Region Elena Gapova 17 The Migration Situation in Armenia: Challenges and Solutions Gagik Yeganyan 27 Migration to and from Azerbaijan Alovsat Aliyev 37 Every Migrant has the Right to [Il]legal Employment? Murat Buldekbaev 45 Trends and Development of Migration Processes in Kyrgyzstan Uranbek Ergeshbayev 55 Implications of International Labour Migration for the Population of the Republic of Moldova Valeriu Moshneaga 71 Outlook on Migration Policy Reform in Russia: Contemporary Challenges and Political Paradoxes Natalia Voronina 85 Annex 1: Interviews 89 Annex 2: Labour migration in the Russian Federation 91 External Labour Migration in Tajikistan: Root Causes, Consequences and Regulation Khodjamakhmad Umarov 103 Migration Situation in Turkmenistan Olena Malynovska 117 Contemporary Migration from Ukraine Serge Cipko 133 Feminization of Labour Migration in Uzbekistan Lyudmila Maksakova Migration Perspectives 2006 1 I N T R O D U C T I O N: Planning and managing labour migration Roger Rodríguez Rios The steady decrease of flows out of Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA)∗ in recent years has not affected the dynamism and complexity of migration processes within the region. Whereas in the 1990s migration was largely the result of crises, military conflicts, and the return of groups living outside their original place of origin, more recently these forms of migration have given way to the short and long-term movement people searching for better economic opportunities. Given this change, a predominant concern for the region is how to best plan and manage labour migration while taking into account increasingly diversified flows in terms of gender and origin, irregular migration, trafficking in persons, security, and the ongoing humanitarian needs of some displaced groups. The region is characterized by large disparities in levels of economic development and by labour markets that vary greatly in terms of wage levels, unemployment rates, and the number of available jobs. There are also important disparities in demographic trends across the region: while the populations of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine are shrinking due to ageing and low birth rates, Azerbaijan and the Central Asian states are still experiencing relatively high population growth. The major destination country in the region, Russia, is second only to the United States in terms of foreign- born residents, many of whom come from other EECA countries (UNHCR et al, 2004). A number of other factors and emerging trends influence the complex migration picture in the EECA region: the lack of reliable statistics on migration in general and on labour migration in particular, the pull factor of diaspora networks, some populations’ dependency on the remittances of migrant workers, the feminization of labour migration, brain drain from the region, trafficking in persons, and the role of globalization and regional economic organizations in fostering free flows of labour. Clearly, a more careful analysis is needed to understand how these elements affect migration flows and to identify appropriate policy responses. Migration remains a key topic in public and political debates across the region. As many articles in this volume point out, the impact of migration range from positive to negative, offering opportunities or constraints to economic, social, and human development. The effects will vary depending on each country’s context, its economic and social trends, the scale and characteristics of migration flows, and the behaviour of individual migrants (IOM, 2006). ∗ For the purposes of this report the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region comprises: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. 2 Eastern Europe and Central Asia Policy Challenges Given the importance of labour migration and its potential benefits, the protection of migrant workers should be of interest to both sending and receiving countries; this