Migration in the CIS: Opportunity from Crisis

By Luca Barbone, Director, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, Europe and Central Asia, The World Bank.

Today in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), around 31 million people are leaving their homes and homelands in search of better opportunities and livelihoods, sending their hardsought earning back to their families.

But the ongoing global economic crisis has struck the economic development of those CIS countries that are most dependent on migration and remittances – chief among them being Armenia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Moldova, who in the past years have relied on external remittances to make up to half their national product.

Migrant workers are finding themselves at the short end of the stick. The jobs they have traveled far from their families to pursue are suddenly drying up, while employment possibilities in their home countries have grown even more dire.

While this is compounding long-simmering issues regarding the status and treatment of migrants, this may also offer an opportunity for governments to move towards implementing sustainable migration policies in the region.

What is needed to improve today’s migration policies in the CIS? At the top of the list is improved multilateral and bilateral cooperation that emphasizes the responsibilities of countries on both sides of migration flows to create an environment that clearly values the human and labor rights of their citizens. At the same time, these citizens – who despite having different nationalities, are so tightly bound by a shared cultural, linguistic, and historical legacy – need upgraded basic support services and assistance in improving their skills in order to compete in the job market.

Failure to address these challenges, which has long been postponed, has led to a growing number of undocumented or illegal migrants, with a skill mismatch and a lack of incentive for integration with local society.
Rising to this challenge, Russian, Armenian, Kyrgyz, Moldovan, and Tajik delegations comprised of central and federal level governments, civil society organizations, as well as think tanks and academia met at a two-day high-level workshop held in Moscow, July 2-3, to collaborate on these issues. The discussions built on an earlier study tour to the Philippines to learn some of the best practices in the world on migration policy management.

A Protocol of Intentions laid out (i) basic rights of migrants as individuals; (ii) labor rights as workers; and (iii) support services to migrants in both hosting and sending countries. In addition, the Protocol highlighted the urgent need to develop a comprehensive migration monitoring and information system. To put meat on their words, a common “Action Plan” guides the reform program for national governments and domestic stakeholders and the donor community, and each county delegation committed to work further to adapt this plan to their specific country circumstances.

Will this meet the challenges? Will the donor community step up to facilitate this process? Immediate action is essential for the welfare of migrants and the countries involved. Let’s not allow this opportunity to slip by.

Source: http://go.worldbank.org/NLB5QXLUZ0