Feedback On November 21-22, 2013 International forum “Cooperation between governmental and non-governmental organizations from countries of origin and destination in working with labor migrants from Central Asia” was held in Saint Petersburg. It was organized by the Russian Charitable foundation for supporting and developing educational and social projects, as well as various human rights organizations, which provide assistance to working immigrants and members of their families, and socially-oriented non-commercial organizations from Kyrgyzstan and Tadzhikistan, which are part of the “Central Asia on the Move” platform.
During the two days of the forum representatives of human rights and non-governmental organizations from different CIS countries, heads and activists of immigrant associations and Russian NGOs discussed the problems of integration of labor immigrants from various Central Asian countries, their professional and linguistic adaptation in Russia. Considerable attention of the participants of the forum was devoted to improving cooperation between the countries of Central Asia and the Russian Federation in the field of migration. The program of the forum was divided into four principal topics: “Current situation and tendencies in migration policy of Russia and countries of origin”, “Situation and tendencies of socio-cultural adaptation of labor migrants from Central Asia in Saint Petersburg”, “Organizing work with labor migrants in their countries of origin”, “Situation and problems of social and legal support for labor migrants from Central Asia in Saint Petersburg”.
ADC “Memorial” was represented at the forum by lawyer S.Mikheyev and expert A.Yakimov, who presented report “Key problems of integration of labor immigrants into the Russian society”.
One of the results of the forum was the establishment of a working group for cooperation on issues related to labor migration, which will aim to work on the mechanisms for improving the situation of labor immigrants and their families, effective and comprehensive defense of their rights in the Russian Federation, as well as the countries of their origin.