Migration Policy of Post-Soviet Tajikistan 1992-2014: From Refugee Sender to Labour Exporter

Abstract

Migration is an important phenomenon of 21st century. The new migration trends appeared in the context of globalization and they cause various effects. As it was mentioned before, Central Asia is a region which consists of five post-Soviet countries Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Right after the collapse of Soviet Union, each of these countries faced migration, starting with movements to historic places of origin of the Soviet people. On one hand a massive exodus, mass departure, of Russian-speaking population started back to Russia and CIS countries, while on the other hand, the economically active members of the dominant ethnic groups also began to migrate in search of a better condition to live, better opportunities and better salaries in Russia, neighboring republics and other countries. This required a completely different approach to the regulation of migration processes. Over the past twenty years on post-Soviet space special migration system with powerful attraction centers of labour force to Russian and Kazakhstan was shaped. Different countries have different features of labour market. For example, Russia and Kazakhstan are in an urgent need for additional labor, especially skilled labour workers. At the same time the labor market of Tajikistan develops a unique situation, due to an excess of labor in the country in general, and the beginning of a labor shortage in rural areas. Uncontrolled migration between the analyzed countries leads to the formation and development of non-formal illicit labor market. I hope the research you hold in your hands will be used by government representatives, policy-makers, scholars and others who might want to contribute to the development of Central Asia. This thesis will not show and prove that trends are common in each Central Asian states, but will show that development of migration issues in Tajikistan are very specific.