On May the 25th, Mrs. Tatiana Hadjiemmanuel, Head of IOM Almaty Office and Sub Regional Deputy Coordinator for Central Asia participated to the High Level Roundtable “ the Role of Parliaments in Ensuring Legal Framework for Cooperation and Regional Security in Central Asia”. The round table was organized by the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan and it was dedicated to the 25th Anniversary of the signing of the Collective Security Treaty (CSTO) and the 10th Anniversary of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly. The event brought together parliamentarians from all of the CSTO member-states and Afghanistan, as well as international experts, and representatives of the United Nations .

Speaking at the round table, Mrs. Hadjiemmanuel expressed appreciation for over two decades of successful cooperation of the IOM/The UN Migration Agency with the Government of Kazakhstan and the Governments in the region in the joint effort for ensuring safe, orderly, and humane migration. Mrs. Hadjiemmanuel accentuated the role of the Government of Kazakhstan, in particular of the Library of the First President of Kazakhstan (Nazarbayev Center).

She emphasized that Kazakhstan has been leading as Chair, for the last 3 years and continues to support, the Almaty Process on International Migration and Refugee Protection. This is an important initiative for promoting regional policy dialogue and cooperation on migration issues in Central Asia and beyond. It is an initiative that gives ownership to Central Asian countries in addressing opportunities and challenges of human mobility. It is also an international process that attracts the interest of other Governments and donors like the Government of the United States, which provides its support since the Almaty Process inception back in 2011.

She stressed that human mobility in Central Asia concerns more than 10million Central Asian migrants moving beyond borders within the region and beyond mainly for labor purposes trying to identify opportunities with better working and living conditions. Almost 50% of the Central Asian citizens on the move are women. In the last few years we have noticed increased movements of Central Asian citizens returning back to their countries of origin such as Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan but also entering Kazakhstan as the best alternative to the Russian market. The numbers of Kyrgyz, Tajik and Uzbek migrants entering Kazakhstan have significantly increased since 2011.

IOM has been working very closely with Kazakhstan in the promotion of migrants rights, not only in Kazakhstan but also in the region. IOM’s 2016 regional field assessment with the Library of the First President (Nazarbayev Center) on “Migrant Vulnerabilities and Integration Needs in Central Asia” http://www.iom.kz/en/publications

Unfortunately extremism and radicalization became familiar terms in our lives in the last few years and are shaping also responses on how we perceive migration and migrants. Countries are concerned about unregulated and irregular movements of people, and increase their security efforts. However, the security approach should go hand in hand with integration where efforts should be made to regulate safe, orderly and humane migration, offering an integration approach that gives the opportunity to migrants and Governments to work together towards social cohesion, combating exclusion and marginalization and thus increasing the sense of social justice.

IOM works closely with the Library of the First President of Kazakhstan (Nazarbayev Center) to bring on the table of the C5+1 Dialogue the migration angle which can contribute to a holistic and more integrated approach of the security agenda.

With our world changing rapidly and with the wealth gap increasing between the developed and the developing world, we have a shared responsibility to increase our efforts and care for the well being of the most vulnerable in our societies. It is a moral and ethical responsibility that can shape the future of our world and of the next generations. Parliaments of the countries have an important role to play in shaping relevant policies.