Tajiks Squeezed by Russian Clampdown on Traders

New legislation hits vulnerable migrant labour from Central Asia’s poorest republic.

By Anora Sarkorova in Dushanbe (RCA No. 479, 26-Jan-07)

The recent Russian ban on migrants from Central Asia working as market traders will have a major impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands of Tajiks.

The new legislation, which came into force on January 15, will not only leave many people from the former Soviet states without work, but slash the remittances they are able to send home.

Russia’s economic development minister German Gref has said the new rules are designed to improve the way markets operate, but many observers suspect the decision reflects a groundswell of xenophobic attitudes towards people from Central Asia and the Caucasus. Following violence between Russians and Caucasians in the town of Kondopoga last year, President Vladimir Putin accused “ethnic” gangs of dominating markets, to the detriment of the “native Russian population”.

Under the new regulations, foreign nationals must account for no more than 40 per cent of the total number of market traders and street vendors before April, and after that they will be banned from working in the informal retail sector altogether. They are specifically prohibited from selling alcohol and pharmaceuticals.

According to Russia’s Federal Migration Service, one quarter of all foreign nationals in the country are employed at markets. Almost all these traders, together with seasonal workers in other low-paid sector such as construction, are from the former Soviet Union, China and Vietnam.

Depending how seasonal migrants are counted, there may be around a million Tajikistan nationals away working in Russia, many of them in the grey economy. Tajik officials put the figure lower, at some 450,000, but either way the figure is high for a population of seven million people.

A recent World Bank study estimated that the remittances sent back by these workers contribute more than 10 per cent of Tajikistan’s gross domestic product. Economists warn that the impoverished Central Asian republic can ill afford to lose this regular influx of cash, and social conditions would be hit further if tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of Tajiks reappeared on the domestic labour market.

Also in January, Moscow introduced legislation to streamline the process by which foreigners register for a legal work permit. This will benefit successful applicants, who will be entitled to benefits and legal protection, and reduce the number working in the shadow economy.

But some confusion has been caused by Moscow’s decision to cap the total number of work permits issued to immigrants from the former Soviet Union – most of whom do not need visas to come to Russia - at six million, with individual quotas for each country.

“The situation is very difficult,” said Muhammad Egamzoda of Tajikistan’s embassy in Moscow. “Russia has not yet defined the quotas for each country, and every day dozens of our compatriots ring the embassy asking what they should do.”

The Russian and Tajik migration services have established a joint commission which will review the implications of the new legislation.

In the wake of the new legislation, many seasonal migrants are already leaving Russia.

But some analysts in Tajikistan argue that the restrictions on market trading will not really reduce the number of Tajiks going to Russia.

Political scientist Khojimahmad Umarov, for example, notes that between 30 and 50 per cent of the Tajiks working in Russia could be affected by the trading ban, but predicts that this will not cause a large exodus.

“The ban on retail trading will simply mean that the migrants look for work in other areas, particularly in the construction industry and other manual jobs where no qualifications are needed,” he said.

Many Tajiks are more pessimistic. “Labour migration status has caused a huge number of problems with the migrants’ documents,” said Gavhar Juraeva, director of the Tajikistan Foundation in Moscow. “There are no exit stamps, and there are many other problems. The Russian authorities are not ruling out abolishing the quota for visa-free countries altogether.”

At Dushanbe airport, more than half the passengers on an arriving Tajikistan Air plane were migrant workers returning on the four-hour flight from Moscow.

Among the passengers was Ozod Rahimov, who had just completed a marathon eight hours in the air. After flying to Moscow in the morning, he was sent home the same evening after Russian passport officers identified him from his retina and fingerprints as having been deported several years ago.

Figures from the Tajik interior ministry show that Russia deported around 7,000 Tajik migrants last year, mainly for working illegally. Russian regulations bar them returning for five years.

After the Russians started deporting large numbers of Tajiks, many tried to circumvent the regulations by changing their passports and names. But this was not enough to fool the Russian computers.

"Yes, I won't conceal the fact - I broke the law,” said Rahimov. “I have a lot at stake. I earn money for my family. I have to do something, since I can’t earn any money in my own country.”

According to official figures, average pay in Tajikistan is 30 to 35 US dollars a month, whereas in Russia a skilled worker can earn 300 dollars or more.

Anvar Boboev, head of Tajikistan’s Migration Service, hopes some that a solution can be worked out between the two countries.

“These people are not terrorists or murderers, and they haven’t committed serious crimes in Russia,” said Boboev. “So we’re hoping the Russians will show some understanding on this issue.”

Dushanbe has asked Moscow to “amnesty” as many as 50,000 deported migrants, but the Russian migration service has said each case needs to be reviewed individually, meaning the process is likely to take a long time.

Even when Tajiks try to register properly in Russia, they encounter many difficulties. Ravshan Salihov has lived in Moscow for three years without being able to formalise his status. He says bosses prefer to keep their gastarbeiters off the books so as to avoid taxes and insurance payments, and they therefore refuse to endorse work permit applications.

“As a result, I’m an illegal immigrant, but I have to put up with it. I came here to earn money and feed my family. So I'll put up with anything,” he said.

Under the new legislation, businesses that continue to employ unregistered immigrants will pay heftier fines.

Human rights campaigners have criticised Moscow for the new legislation, saying it serves only to stir racism and xenophobia, allowing Russians to blame crime and social problems on the migrants from the southern republics of the former Soviet Union.

“It’s quite unrealistic to use quotas to regulate immigration,” Galina Vitkovskaya of International Organisation for Migration told the Moscow newspaper Novye Izvestiya. “What’s the point of it if there is a quota of 300,000 jobs [in Moscow] but there are 400,000-450,000 people from China alone living here?”

Anora Sakorova is a correspondent for the BBC and a contributor to IWPR in Dushanbe.