UZBEK ILLEGAL LABORERS EXPOSED TO ABUSIVE PRACTICES IN NEIGHBORING KAZAKHSTAN
Rustam Temirov: 11/05/03

Each autumn in recent years, Kazakhstan experiences a surge of migrant laborers from neighboring Uzbekistan. This year is proving no different, with up to 20,000 illegal Uzbek migrants working in the South Kazakhstan region alone, according to media reports. Many migrants report that they suffer from abusive practices. Nevertheless, many feel driven to leave Uzbekistan in search of work because of a lack of economic opportunities at home.

Kazakhstan is a destination of choice for Uzbek migrant laborers throughout the year, but they flow is heaviest during the fall cotton-picking season. Each day during the season, according to some estimates, thousands of Uzbek citizens leave their homes in search of work in Kazakhstan. This year, Uzbek border posts maintain intricate crossing procedures because of a trade dispute in late 2002 and early 2003. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

The new procedures have not had any discernable effect in discouraging migrant workers from traveling to Kazakhstan.

According to a November 4 report in the Kazakhstani newspaper Ekspress-K, roughly 100 illegal Uzbek migrant workers are deported each week. "Our neighbors [Uzbeks] ask for two times less than Kazakh workers do for doing almost any kind of work, be it working in the fields, or in construction," the newspaper said. "A skilled worker can earn 20,000 Kazakhstani tenge (roughly $135) per month picking 100 kilos of cotton a day – money that is not bad, even for a Kazakh villager. This is money our neighbors are quite able to live on over the whole of the next year." In Uzbekistan, the average monthly wage is roughly $20 per month, according to unofficial estimates.

The cotton harvest in Kazakhstan is now winding down. According to a November 3 report by Interfax-Kazakhstan, about 373,000 tons of cotton have already been harvested in South Kazakhstan – 15 percent above the projected target. Officials say that farmers are receiving higher prices this year than in 2002, the Interfax-Kazakhstan report said.

While wages may be far higher in Kazakhstan than in Uzbekistan, many Uzbek say there is a steep price to pay for being an illegal migrant worker. Because of their illegal status, many end up never being paid the wages owed them. Others encounter even worse experiences.

Isomiddin, a 19-year-old Uzbek migrant worker, says many are subjected to slave-like conditions. He recounted that earlier in 2003, he and his friends left their native village of Mangitabad in Samarkand province to try and find a job in Kazakhstan. A woman named Rokhila promised to help them settle. However, as soon as she got Isomiddin and 35 other young men and women to Kazakhstan, she immediately sold them into indentured servitude at $35 per head.

Isomiddin’s group comprised people from across Uzbekistan, with most coming from the densely populated and impoverished Ferghana Valley. The young Uzbeks worked at cotton farms, receiving meager supplies of food and minimal housing. They received no wages and were treated as virtual slaves.

Fortunately, Isomiddin and his friends did not face prolonged hardship. Worried parents -- having been alerted to the horrifying conditions endured by their children by one of the young men who had escaped the Kazakhstani cotton farm – mounted a rescue effort. "When we heard how our children were living, everybody was worried about them, including district government officials," said Omon Tursunov, the father of one of the young men in Isomiddin’s group. "Our neighbor Tulkin went to Kazakhstan to try and convince the Kazakh farmers to return our children." In the end, the parents, with help from local officials, managed to raise enough money to obtain their sons’ release, effectively paying a ransom.

No one knows how many Uzbek citizens live in Kazakhstan as virtual slaves. In Uzbekistan’s rural areas, where unemployment is pervasive, there are many people ready to travel to Kazakhstan. "With the start of the cotton season, the number of Uzbeks wishing to go to Kazakhstan to make money increases significantly," says one official at a border checkpoint in Jizzak province. The head of the Mirzachul district of Syr Darya province, Musa Anarbayev, explains that Uzbekistan does not have a visa regime with Kazakhstan, so entering the country is relatively easy.

Editor’s Note: Rustem Temirov is an independent journalist in Uzbekistan.

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Posted November 5, 2003 © Eurasianet
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