IOM steps up advocacy efforts for migrating labourers

Problems faced by some 800,000 Tajik labour migrants were highlighted at a two-day seminar arranged by the International Organisation of Migration (IOM), which ended in Tajikistan’s capital, Dushanbe on Thursday. “We are hopeful that people working on awareness raising with labour migrants are fully informed about the legislative framework of labour migration,” IOM head of mission in Tajikistan, Igor Bosc, told IRIN. He noted that the event was important given stricter migration policies, particularly in Russia, and the risks related to human trafficking and health concerns. While there are no real statistics on the scale of trafficking in Tajikistan, according to a recent study carried out by the agency, as economic conditions worsen, the region remains fertile ground for trafficking to increase. Although the estimated number of women trafficked every year was 1,000, IOM believes this figure to be 10 times higher and one that is rapidly increasing. In a statement on Tuesday, while focusing on health risks and human rights abuses related to labour migration, the conference was meant to be a brainstorming and experience-sharing forum for both government and civil society actors involved in the issue. “We expect that those advising labour migrants daily will leave the seminar with quality information,” Bosc maintained. Experts from many countries, firms, political parties, NGOs and journalists participated in the event. Migrant workers are most susceptible human trafficking, which is now an organised crime worldwide. According to a US state department report earlier this year, the global magnitude of this crime is staggering. Annual estimates range from 700,000 to four million people bought, sold, transported and held in slavery-like conditions for sex and labour exploitation all over the world. However, the nature of the crime - underground and often under-acknowledged - contributes to the inability to determine the real number of victims each year. With a huge number of Tajiks travelling annually to Russia, Uzbekistan and other former Soviet republics in search of employment, the issue is of paramount significance to the impoverished country as the remittances from migrant labourers contribute significantly to the national economy. With the increased focus on reforming travel regulation due to mounting security concerns in Central Asian and neighbouring former Soviet republics, the seminar was an effort to bridge the information gap on sensitive issues such as travel regulation, labour laws in different states, the risks of human trafficking and the mounting threat of sexually transmitted diseases. As the leading international organization for migration for half a century, IOM assists in meeting the growing operational challenges of migration management. Established in 1951 as an intergovernmental organization to resettle European displaced persons, refugees and migrants, IOM is a growing organisation comprising of 93 members and 36 observer states.