Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2021, published 110th ILC session (2022)

Migration for Employment Convention (Revised), 1949 (No. 97) - Tajikistan (Ratification: 2007)

The Committee notes with deep concern that the Government’s report, due since 2018, has not been received. In light of its urgent appeal launched to the Government in 2020, the Committee proceeds with the examination of the application of the Convention on the basis of the information at its disposal.

Articles 2, 4 and 7. Adequate and free services to assist migrants for employment. Measures to facilitate the departure, journey and arrival of migrant workers. Public Employment Service. The Committee previously requested the Government: (1) to provide information on the activities of the Agency for Employment Abroad (established in 2014) in providing services and assistance to Tajik workers going abroad and foreign workers employed in Tajikistan; (2) to indicate whether these services are free of charge; and (3) to provide detailed information on the measures taken and arrangements made to facilitate the departure, arrival and reintegration of migrant workers. According to its website, the Agency for Employment Abroad provides qualified consulting and mediation services for the employment of Tajik citizens who have found a job abroad. It is also engaged in the organized recruitment of Tajik citizens to work in the Russian Federation and other countries; recruitment centres are opened in four cities (Dushanbe, Khujan, Khorog and Bokhtar). The Committee notes that the website provides a wealth of information to prospective migrants in English, Tajik and Russian. According to the website, the Agency works closely with all government and non-governmental agencies (Migration Service of the Ministry of Labour, Migration and Employment of Population (MoLMEP); Ministry of Education and Science; Ministry of Health and Social Protection; Embassy of Tajikistan in the Russian Federation; etc.) that provide informational support to citizens of Tajikistan who want to go abroad, who face difficulties in another country or who want to return. It refers migrants to the right governmental or non-governmental agency which can help them before, during and after their migration journey. The Agency organizes workshops on pre-departure modules in partnership with the Pre-departure orientation Centre of the Migration service or Migrant Resource Centre in Dushanbee. The Committee observes that the Government has developed a mobile application to ease migrants’ access to available services and information and published a handbook on safe labour migration in the Russian Federation. It further notes that the website clearly states that all the information and service provided by the Agency are completely free of charge. The Committee notes that, in its concluding observations, the United Nations Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (CMW) expressed concern: (1) at the lack of coordination, exacerbated by unclear and overlapping mandates between the various agencies within the Ministry, such as the State Migration Service, the pre-departure preparation centres, the Agency for Employment Abroad, the representation of the Ministry in the Russian Federation and the Agency for the Labour Market and Employment; (2) about the inadequate human, technical and financial resources available to the Ministry for it to effectively carry out its work, including a lack of staff with expertise on issues relating to migration; and (3) at the lack of sufficient monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to assess the impact of migration policies and programmes on the rights of migrant workers and members of their families (CMW/C/TJK/CO/2, 9 May 2019, paragraph16). In addition, the Committee observes that, according to the 2020 Asian Development Bank study “Strengthening support for labour migration in Tajikistan – assessment and recommendations” (ADB study), in practice, a majority of the migrants leave without any detailed knowledge of their destination country relying almost entirely on information from informal sources. The same study adds that staff of the Migration Services of Tajikistan are focusing most of their effort on re-entry bans in the Russian Federation issued to Tajik nationals in breach of the Russian legislation. It indicates that, according to Russian legislation, re-entry bans can be issued to foreign citizens for two reasons: when a foreign national is in breach of administrative regulations on the territory of the Russian Federation two or more times within a period of three years (e.g. for lacking registration), as well as in cases when a migrant has not left the country within thirty days after the expiry of his/her right to stay on the territory of the Russian Federation. Without knowing it, migrants can be issued re-entry bans for a period of three to five years as a result of a lack of documents or for an unpaid parking bill. Consequently, because there is no system of warning about re-entry bans, migrants leave the Russian Federation to go back to their home country and visit their relatives not aware that they will not be allowed to re-enter the Russian Federation. It is only when they want to go back to the Russian Federation that the electronic system at the border signalizes that they are not allowed to re-enter the Russian Federation and are rejected. In that regard, the Committee observes from the ADB study that, in 2019, approximatively 240,000 migrants of Tajik origin were registered on the re-entry ban list of the Russian Federation. In light of the above, the Committee urges the Government:

• (i) to provide without delay accurate and free information to migrant workers and facilitate their departure, journey and reception in countries of destination, in particular to the Russian Federation;
• (ii) to provide information on the specific measures taken or envisaged to ensure that its citizens going abroad are aware of the policy on re-entry restrictions in the Russian Federation, and of any negotiation in this respect with the Russian Federation (for example to remove their names from re-entry ban list);
• (iii) to strengthen coordination between the different agencies under the MoLMEP regarding migration and employment to ensure that there is no overlap between their activities; and
• (iv) to ensure that the MoLMEP and its agencies are provided with the adequate human, technical and financial resources for its effective functioning.

Please also provide information on any assistance and information services specifically targeting Tajik women workers going abroad.

Assistance to returning migrants workers. In its concluding observations, the CMW mentions the existence of a state programme to promote employment which resulted in the employment of 222 individuals in permanent jobs between 2018–19 and indicates that, although the National Development Strategy for 2016–2030, includes measures for the reintegration of returning migrants, the support provided to such returnees in practice is inadequate, in particular with regard to the provision of high-quality training and educational opportunities for professional development, and also regarding support for self-employment and entrepreneurship (CMW/C/TJK/CO/2, paragraph 50). In this regard, the ADB study adds that: (1) the lack of reliable data on returning migrants is a major challenge for the effectiveness of migration services; and statistical data on returning migrants are weak as the migration service centre-s have no system for recording the “clients” they serve; and (2) the challenges for returning migrants include difficulties in economic, social, and psychological reintegration. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the impact of its assistance programmes for returning migrant workers and on the measures taken or envisaged to expand its returning policy in order to addressing effectively all the needs of returning migrant workers for a proper reintegration in their country of origin. Finally, the Committee asks the Government to provide statistical data, disaggregated by sex, on returning migrant workers.

Article 3. Misleading propaganda. The Committee wishes to stress that the existence of official information services does not suffice to guarantee that migrant workers are efficiently and objectively informed, nor protected against the manoeuvres of certain intermediaries who have an interest in encouraging migration by every possible means, including the dissemination of erroneous information on the possibilities and conditions of emigration. The Convention does not define the measures governments should take to combat misleading propaganda, so it is up to them to decide the nature of such measures. The Committee notes that, in practice, measures taken by governments to combat misleading propaganda are either preventive or repressive (See General Survey on migrant workers of 1999, paragraphs 214 and 217). In the absence of any recent information on the measures taken to combat effectively misleading propaganda, the Committee reiterates its requests to the Government: (i) to provide information on the specific activities of the Migration Office and the Agency of Employment Abroad in this regard; and, more generally, (ii) to indicate whether the legal framework regulates, supervises and provides for sanctions in response to the dissemination of misleading information aimed at encouraging emigration or immigration.

Article 9. Remittances. The Committee notes that, both the ADB study and the CMW concluding observations, point out that migration for work is an important livelihood option for many households in Tajikistan (a third of the country’s Gross Domestic Product) due to limited job opportunities and that the economic crisis and worldwide shutdown induced by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) have caused international migration flows to fall, and that remittances are projected to decline significantly (by 7 per cent). The Committee notes that the Government indicated, in its report to the CMW, that: (1) amendments were made in March 2018 to instruction No. 204 concerning procedures for money transfers with a view to facilitating the receipt of remittances by individuals without the need for a bank account; and (2) the National Bank of Tajikistan has recommended that credit organizations open branch offices in remote mountainous regions to facilitate access to funds transferred from abroad. The Committee however notes the concerns of the CMW over the fact that in, February 2016, the National Bank of Tajikistan issued an order requiring all money transfers in Russian roubles by individuals without bank accounts to be issued only in the national currency of the State party, and that, owing to the unfavourable official exchange rate, recipients of remittances from the Russian Federation continue to lose money (CMW/C/TJK/CO/2, paragraph 42). The Committee asks the Government to indicate: (i) how the amendments made in 2018 to instruction No. 204 have facilitated concretely the receipt of remittances by migrant workers without a formal bank account; and (ii) whether the 2016 order issued by the National Bank of Tajikistan is still in force or has also been amended to facilitate the transfer of earnings and savings by migrant workers in the Russian Federation with preferential rates.

Enforcement. In order to be able to undertake a comprehensive analysis of the manner in which the Convention is applied in practice, the Committee once again urges the Government to provide information, as completely as possible, in accordance with Parts III–V of the report form approved by the Governing Body. Such information should include: (i) an indication of the competent authorities entrusted with the application of the relevant laws, regulations, policies, and administrative decisions, including information on the organization and role of labour inspection; (ii) a summary of any court decisions involving questions of principles relating to the application of the Convention; and (iii) information on any practical difficulties encountered in the application of the Convention.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.