Russia, Tajikistan Spar Over Illegal Labor Migration

The lack of a broad framework to manage economic migration within the Commonwealth of Independent States is fast developing into a source of regional tension. Russia, the chief destination for most economic migrants, has gotten tough in recent months on illegal laborers. But some CIS countries, in particular Tajikistan, are resisting Russia's tough tactics.

For most CIS states, labor migrants comprise a critical component of the respective countries' economies, helping to alleviate the stress caused by the lack of domestic job opportunities. Remittances sent by economic migrants to loved ones in their home countries make the difference in keeping many struggling families above the poverty line. [For additional information see the EurasiaNet Business and Economics archive].

A significant number of guest workers from the Caucasus and Central Asia are working illegally in Russia. These illegal immigrants, while often subject to harassment and extortion by local law-enforcement officers, were generally tolerated prior to the outbreak of the second Chechen war in 1999. Now, as part of the fallout from the Moscow hostage crisis last October, Russian authorities are viewing illegal immigrants as a security risk and are taking harsh measures to bring the problem under control.

According to Russian officials, up to 4 million illegal immigrants worked in Russia in 2002. Only about 300,000 guest workers possessed proper documentation. New immigration legislation, which took effect November 1, expanded the powers of law-enforcement authorities to uncover undocumented laborers.

Russia has dealt with Tajik immigrants in a particularly rough manner, frequently carrying out summary deportations. In one instance in November, about 120 Tajiks were packed on to military transport planes and returned to Dushanbe. A few days later, Moscow deported another 80 Tajiks.

Tajik officials have responded with sharp criticism of Moscow. Tajik President Imomali Rahmonov said the deportations did "not fit the spirit" of Tajikistan's friendly relationship with Russia. Meanwhile, a Tajik Foreign Ministry spokesman, Igor Sattarov, asserted that many of those deported in the November incidents possessed legitimate temporary registration documentation. He went on to allege that Russian officials "ignored those documents and demonstratively destroyed them," the Asia-Plus news agency reported in December.

"Tajikistan views these [Russian] actions as an unfriendly act," Sattarov said, adding that the deportations flout a "number of multilateral and bilateral documents," including a 2000 pact covering visa-free travel between Russia and Tajikistan.

Russia's crackdown on illegal immigration is by no means limited to Tajiks. At least 65 Azerbaijanis were deported from the Moscow region alone during November, the Azerbaijani news agency Bilik Dunyasi reported January 2. According to Azerbaijani officials cited by the news agency, the number of Russian deportations is now rising.

Illegal labor migration has also proven to be an issue that is complicating relations among Central Asian states. In Western Kazakhstan, for example, the number of economic migrants from neighboring Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan approached 48,000 in 2002, approximately a 100 percent rise over the previous year, the Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency reported January 7. In an effort to stem the influx, Kazakhstani authorities have amended legislation to make employers liable for hiring undocumented workers. The change has succeeded in curbing illegal labor migration, according to the Interfax report.

Dushanbe's reaction to the deportations is connected in large part to Tajikistan's acute economic dependence on guest worker incomes. According to unofficial estimates, upwards of 800,000 Tajiks earn income illegally in Russia every year, remitting as much as $400 million to relatives back home. The remittances are roughly double the most recent estimate of the state's annual expenditures in 2000, according to the CIA World Factbook 2002. Given that many families depend on guest-worker income, Russia's deportations have emerged as a significant domestic political issue in Tajikistan.

In deporting Tajiks, Moscow may be seeking to exert pressure on Tajikistan to more closely align its views with Russia's geopolitical policies, Dushanbe-based political expert Rustem Samiev suggested. If that is the case, Samiev added, the attempt at coercion stands little chance of working.

"Maybe such politics would have been effective some years back, but not now," Samiev said, "After September 11, [the situation] has changed for Tajikistan. Global public attention has focused on the country