Dushanbe hosts a Regional Conference of Ombudsmen of Central Asia and Russian Federation

A two-day conference “Effective Legal Remedies for Migrant Workers: Role of Ombudsmen of Russian Federation and Central Asia” will be held in Dushanbe on 30-31 October 2012 in the framework of the Regional Migration Programme in Central Asia and Russia implemented by UN Women, IOM and WB with a financial support of UK Government and the Project “Strengthening Capacity of the Human Rights Ombudsman of Tajikistan to Protect and Promote Rights of Tajik Migrant Workers” funded by the Human Rights Programme of Switzerland.

The conference is organized by Ombudsman of Tajikistan in cooperation with the Tajik NGO Human Rights Centre. The aim of the conference is to strengthen cooperation between Ombudsmen of CA and Russia and NGOs providing services for migrants, to increase the level of their accountability on fulfillment of international obligations by UN member-states in the area of the protection of rights of migrant workers, and to agree on practical mechanisms for cooperation to protect rights of migrants and members of their families.

In the CIS space Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are the major providers of migrant workers predominantly to Russian Federation and Kazakhstan. The key challenge lies in the fact that the majority of them do not have sufficient vocational skills, and the level of their education is, in general, low. The problem is exacerbated by legal illiteracy and lack of knowledge of languages of countries of destination of migrants, in particular Russian. These factors contribute to their vulnerability and discrimination and may also lead to labour exploitation and slavery.

In order to respond to these challenges Ombudsmen of countries of origin and countries of destination, in particular Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Russia - initiated establishment of joint cooperation in this area, in order to develop mechanisms and define practical measures that will be directed to ensuring adequate legal counseling to migrant workers in case of violation of their rights. The Conference will bring together the Ombudsmen and civil society organizations, as well as Government and international representatives. Concurrently, it is the first occasion, where Swiss Ambassador to Tajikistan based in Astana, a representative from the Swiss Embassy in Moscow as well as the Swiss Cooperation Office in Tajikistan will jointly attend, which is underlining the importance Swiss Government puts on the migration issues. UN Resident Coordinator for Tajikistan supports this initiative and on behalf of UN agencies working in the area of labour migration will highlight importance to follow the international human rights and gender quality commitments and standards for development, implementation and monitoring of the national policy and interstate agreements regulating labour migration. The agenda of the conference also includes panel discussions and follow-up of results of the working visit paid by the Ombudsman of Tajikistan to Sverdlovsk region in September 2012 as well as follow-up to discussions organized by Ombudsman of Tajikistan, Ombudsman of Sverdlovsk region and UN Women in Dushanbe on 5 December 2011. The meeting will be attended by a member of UN committee on migrants’ rights.