Kyrgyzstan: Desperate Uzbek Labor Migrants Seeking Work in Job-Strapped Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan has experienced a fair share of economic troubles of late. But the Central Asian state is nevertheless an employment magnet for Uzbek labor migrants.

Locally known as "mardikerlar" ("day laborers" in Uzbek), these illegal, seasonal labor migrants say they are willing to do the hardest work for low wages because of persistent and widespread unemployment in Uzbekistan. These migrant laborers are most prevalent in southern Kyrgyzstan, which has a high concentration of ethnic Uzbek residents. [For additional background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

"Beginning from early spring until late fall, many of my friends and acquaintances work in frontier areas of Kyrgyzstan," a 34-year-old father of three from Uzbekistan who wished to be called Kamil told EurasiaNet. "In Kyrgyzstan, they need unskilled workers. Last summer, I was lucky to find a good seasonal job - I made bricks for a local ethnic Uzbek, who was constructing a house."

The mardikerlars' wage demands tend to undercut those of Kyrgyzstani citizens, both ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz, who are grappling with an unemployment crisis amid a drastic economic slowdown. [For additional information see the EurasiaNet archive].

"I prefer to hire mardikerlar from Uzbekistan since they are cheaper than workers from Kyrgyzstan," said Ilkhom, Kamil's employer in Osh who preferred not to disclose his surname. "They are modest, work hard, and meet deadlines. [Last year] I paid four workers one Kyrgyz som per two bricks [approximately $0.02]. In total, they made about $1,000 within two months. If I had hired Kyrgyz laborers, I would have paid them $2,000."

Ilkhom says that during the construction season - from March till late November - many of the Uzbek migrants live in Kyrgyzstan for a few months and go back home after they complete their work and get paid. "Now, in winter, there is not much work for them. However, in spring they will again be in demand, particularly on agricultural fields and on private construction sites," he explained.

"Uzbekistani laborers do the hardest work," Azimjan Askarov, the head of Vozdukh (Air), a human rights and legal services non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Jalalabad Province, said. "Few Kyrgyz citizens are interested in working on fields under the hot sun."

Uzbek President Islam Karimov's administration asserts that the Uzbek economy is in sound shape. But experts widely believe that Tashkent manipulates economic statistics on unemployment rates and GDP growth. In late 2009, the ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgraded Uzbekistan to an ultra-high-risk category. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. In addition, in its 2010 assessment of economic freedom, a right-wing, Washington, DC-based think tank, the Heritage Foundation, partnering with the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal, ranked Uzbekistan 158th out of the 179 countries survey. That rank earned Uzbekistan designation as a "repressed" economy. Kyrgyzstan, meanwhile, ranked 80th in the Heritage Foundation survey, good enough for a "moderately free" designation.

Local observers play down the idea that by taking jobs from Kyrgyzstanis, mardikerlars could stoke inter-ethnic tension. Amid the economic and political turmoil associated with the Soviet collapse during the late 1980s and early 90s, the Osh region was the scene of clashes between Uzbeks and Kyrgyz.

Given the chance, Kyrgyz prefer to work in Russia where they are paid more. "Our residents easily integrate into Russian society since they know the Russian language well," Akylbek Tashbulatov, a lawyer at the Center for International Protection, an Osh-based NGO that helps Kyrgyz labor migrants, told EurasiaNet. "Legally it is not a problem for a Kyrgyz citizen to go to Russia and search for a job."

Even during the current global economic crisis, in which many former Soviet states, in particular Russia and Kazakhstan, have suffered, Kyrgyzstanis still leave for Russia in search of better jobs. "My younger sister left for Russia three years ago, now she works in Moscow," said Dilrabo, an ethnic Uzbek from Osh. "She is well paid there by local standards and this year she invited our elder sister to join her. Now they live and work in Moscow together."

Askarov, the human rights activist, says that many Uzbekistani mardikerlar work in Kyrgyzstan illegally and, therefore, are vulnerable to abuse of their civil rights.

A 2006 intergovernmental agreement allows citizens of the two countries to freely cross the border and stay for 60 days without visas. But the law does not give Uzbekistanis legal working rights in Kyrgyzstan. "We check passports at the border checkpoints and stamp passports of those who cross the [Kyrgyz-Uzbek] border indicating the date of arrival or departure of citizens of Uzbekistan," said Salkyn Abdykarieva, a spokesperson for the Kyrgyz State Boundary Service in Osh. "And often we do not know the true purpose of their arrival in our country. Some people come to visit, others come here to shop, and probably there are also those who come here to work."

Without legal recourse, immigrant mardikerlars are dependent on the benevolence of their employers. Relationships are built on trust and verbal agreements. "Sometimes, we are not paid what we are promised. And we can't do much [to protect ourselves] because if the Kyrgyz police are involved, they will never be on our side," said Khakim, a labor migrant from Uzbekistan.

Local officials confirm that labor migrants working without registration have no legal protection. "If authorities find out that inhabitants of Uzbekistan are employed by Kyrgyzstani entrepreneurs, they will be deported, and Kyrgyz employers will pay penalties," Nurilya Joldosheva, the head of the Osh Committee on Migration and Employment, told local journalists in 2009.

With so many Uzbek labor migrants finding it is easier to work in Kyrgyzstan than Russia, let alone their own country, they are likely to continue taking risks. "Many young Uzbek people do not speak Russian well, and it takes much more money to travel to Russia," said Khakim. "Here in Kyrgyzstan, there are lots of Uzbek [citizens], and, in addition, Kyrgyz people understand us when we speak Uzbek and we easily understand the Kyrgyz language."