In March 2009, ADC “Memorial” initiated
\na new project, “Legal Assistance to Migrants Belonging to National
\nMinority Groups in the Northwest Region of Russia” (with financial
\nassistance from Sida).\u00a0 The project offers monitoring on the observance
\nof migrants\u2019 rights in our region and on the legal and human rights
\nresponse in the event of any infringement of rights.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Migration already long ago became a
\nfact of modern life.\u00a0 According to statistics from the UN, 200
\nmillion people in the world live abroad for various reasons.\u00a0 A
\nlarge portion of these people moved to another country in order to find
\nwork.\u00a0 Indeed, invited migrant labor plays a significant role in
\nthe world economy.<\/p>\n
The populations of many countries whose
\neconomies have experienced drastic negative changes in the last few
\ndecades are heavily dependent on the salaries of migrant workers:
\nthese workers frequently send their earnings back to their homeland
\nand to their families living there.\u00a0 For instance, in 2007, citizens
\nof Tajikistan working in Russia, according to data from the Central
\nBank of Russia, send $1.6 billion dollars to their home country; Moldovan
\ncitizens, $806 million.\u00a0 This amounts to 36% and 17% of these countries
\nGDPs, respectively.\u00a0 For the countries of the CIS, laboring migrants
\nand the money they make abroad play a particularly significant role
\nin the economy:\u00a0 in Tajikistan, 53% of the entire country\u2019s economy
\ndepends on them.\u00a0 Developed countries have already felt the effects
\nof the world economic crisis, but it is only beginning to be felt in
\nthe poorer countries of the world.\u00a0 In Russia, migrant laborers
\nhave fallen into a particularly vulnerable and paradoxical situation.
\nOn the one hand, even in the event of a financial crisis the demand
\nfor manual labor remains, and our government has offered particularly
\nattractive conditions to potential migrant workers.\u00a0 The Russian
\ngovernment established a quota for those who want to receive permission
\nto work in the various regions of our country.\u00a0 In 2009, the quota
\nwas set at 213,863 persons for St. Petersburg, and 38,285 for Leningrad
\nRegion.\u00a0 In 2009, it was initially planned that around 4 million
\npeople would be allowed to come to Russia to provide migrant labor-this
\nfigure was to be higher than the quota for 2008 because the new quotas
\nhad been decided in the middle of 2008.\u00a0 Economic experts, as well
\nas employees of the Federal Migration Service welcomed increases to
\nthe quota:\u00a0 they noted that this higher, more realistic estimation
\nof the number of migrants to be allowed into Russia would help to legalize
\nthe status of many currently illegal migrants-of which, according
\nto various estimates, there are currently between 10 and 12 million.<\/p>\n
However, shortly after the announcement
\nof this new quota, the Russian government made a new decision, announced
\nby Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on December 4, 2008 on live television,
\nto cut the quota by 50%.\u00a0 A bit later, at the very end of 2008,
\na Decree was adopted by the government of the Russian Federation forbidding
\nforeign laborers from working in retail trade in kiosks, markets, and
\noutside of stores-in other words, in all of those places where residents
\nof the Near Abroad usually work.\u00a0 According to government bureaucrats,
\nthese measures were adopted to fight economic instability and arose
\nin response to the demands of regular Russian citizens not wishing to
\ngive up jobs to “outsiders” during a financial crisis and a period
\nof heightened unemployment.<\/p>\n
Economic experts, however, find these
\ndecisions to be overly populist and poorly-thought-out.\u00a0 Russians
\ndo not work in the sectors of the economy typically occupied by migrant
\nlaborers-that is, in those positions with truly difficult conditions
\nand that offer low pay-in other words, in reality, migrants do not
\ntake away jobs from Russian citizens.\u00a0 Our economy continues to
\nbe in need of foreign laborers, and lowering the quota will not eliminate
\nunemployment among Russian citizens but instead will force even migrant
\nlaborers to work illegally, where they will be even more vulnerable
\nand stripped of even more rights.<\/p>\n
But in the popular consciousness myths
\ncontinue to be cultivated that demonize migrants and foster hatred towards
\nthem.\u00a0 In addition to the false premise that migrants steal jobs
\nfrom “native” Russians, the media often perpetuates the myth that
\nmost crimes in this country are committed by migrants.\u00a0 The media
\nquotes government bureaucrats and employees of the Ministry of Internal
\nAffairs that frighten Russians into expecting a surge in crimes committed
\nby currently unemployed foreign workers.\u00a0 Meanwhile, official statistics
\nfrom the Ministry of Internal Affairs show that on the territory of
\nthe Russian Federation, only 2.8% of all crimes that have been investigated
\nare committed by citizens of the CIS (data from the period from January
\nto September 2008).\u00a0 Experts are certain that the financial crisis
\nwill not lead to an increase in crimes committed by migrant workers:
\nif the demand for migrant labor decreases, these migrants would be most
\nlikely move to a different sector of the economy or move to a country
\nwhere they could receive work.\u00a0 After all, the people who choose
\nto become migrant laborers are those who want to work, not those inclined
\nto criminal behavior.<\/p>\n
However, common sense is a foreign
\nidea to those who prefer an ideology of hatred to the opinion of experts
\nand professionals.\u00a0 Xenophobia can be seen in all levels of our
\nsociety:\u00a0 it is visible in the announcements made by bureaucrats
\nand in the statements of people on the street and in public transportation.
\nParticularly embarrassing are the speeches made by those pro-Kremlin
\ngroups who speak out against legal (!) migrants.\u00a0 For example,
\nin November 2008, “the Young Guard of United Russia” held a campaign
\ncalled “Our Money to Our People!” that demanded all migrants be
\nsent out of the country, freeing up jobs for Russians, and that a law
\nbe adopted closing Russia\u2019s borders to migrant laborers.<\/p>\n
It seems that someone must be profiting
\nfrom turning these migrant laborers into scapegoats, laying all of the
\nresponsibility on them for the unfavorable economic situation in the
\ncountry.\u00a0 The wrath of the average citizen, who has never learned
\nto think for him- or herself, but believes the stories made up by others,
\nis unleashed not upon the employer, for whom it is profitable to make
\nuse of cheap labor from migrants; not upon the police, for whom the
\nexistence of illegal migrants is also profitable; not upon the authorities,
\n“thanks” to whose direction and policies millions of people are
\nforced to find work far from their families and homes-but upon the
\nmigrants themselves.\u00a0 Moreover, not even for a minute do these
\naverage citizens who hate migrants think to try to put themselves into
\nthe shoes of these foreign laborers, these people, who, because of a
\nseries of unfortunate circumstances, find themselves working in a foreign
\ncountry in a badly-paid, low-skill position, every day having to face
\nthe risk of being offended, hurt, or even killed.\u00a0 The frightening
\nand very shameful figures on the incidence of hate crime in Russia-that
\nis the price of Russia xenophobia and hatred of migrants.<\/p>\n
International organizations have called
\nupon the governments of various countries to help migrant laborers in
\nthese financially difficult times.\u00a0 For example, in a presentation
\nin 2008, The International Organization for Migration called for the
\ntightening of laws on migrant laborers to stop.\u00a0 The World Bank,
\nfor its part, recommends that inter-governmental agreements be signed
\noffering higher unemployment benefits, the funds for which should be
\ntaken from the social insurance accounts of countries in which migrant
\nlaborers have worked. The Secretary-General of the UN Ban Ki-moon,
\nspeaking at the Global Forum on Migration and Development in October
\n2008, said, “[…] migration can and should be a tool to help lift
\nus out of this economic crisis. […] Human mobility makes our economies
\nmore efficient, even when they are not growing, by ensuring that the
\nright skills can reach the right places at the right time.\u00a0 Human
\nmobility also helps redress the enormous imbalances that have led to
\nharsh economic inequality.”<\/p>\n
(The Russian original makes use of
\nmaterials from the sites www.fms.gov.ru