“There are 632 refugees in Kazakhstan,” Eduardo Yrezabal, Deputy Representative for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said at a presentation “Addressing Mixed Migration Flows in Central Asia” at KazGUU University’s Academic Diplomatic Club, held to mark the 70^th anniversary of the UN.  Mr. Yrezabal said that in a lot of situations the term “migrant” acquires a negative connotation, however, the speaker pointed out “the fact that people move doesn’t constitute a crime.  You have people seeking income opportunities; some people migrate against their will; some seek protection as a result of human rights violations, and at other times you might see people who are victims of trafficking.”

But how can one identify who deserves a refugee status and who doesn’t?  The answer is that border management systems should employ protection-sensitive entry systems.

“What we advocate is that the border management systems contain the necessary safeguards, the necessary mechanisms for the border authorities to be able to differentiate who could be in need of protection, and who could be in need of special treatment owing to particular protection needs, be it refugees, be it victims of trafficking, or other kind of persons who find themselves in a very vulnerable situation. And the protection-sensitive entry systems allow countries not only to differentiate and therefore to determine who should be treated in accordance with special procedures, but also it helps to prevent security threats and it will help them to comply with international principle of non-refoulement, non-expulsion of refugees,” Mr. Yrezabal said. 

The speaker pointed out that the primary driver of immigration to Kazakhstan is a search for better economic opportunities, but there are also persons who come to Kazakhstan seeking protection as refugees. 80% of the refugees living in Kazakhstan are from Afghanistan.

Kazakhstan’s refugee law was enforced in 2010. However, as Mr. Yrezabal said, the main problem so far for refugees in Kazakhstan is the temporary residence status, which is given to a person for only one year. But this status doesn’t help refugees to find a job. The labour legislation establishes that the minimum period for which a job contract can be made is one year. So, normally, by the time they receive a job offer, his or her residence or work permit is valid for less than a year. As a result, this prevents refugees from taking up jobs. Mr. Yrezabal says that one of the solutions in this situation would be to provide refugees with longer-term residence permits.

Ms. Tatiana Hadjiemmanuel, Deputy Coordinator for Central Asia and Senior Programme Manager for the Coordination Office for Central Asia of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in Astana, mentioned that across Central Asia people engage in a variety of movements both with regard to their duration (temporary, long term or permanent), geographical scope (local, regional, international) and purpose (family and personal visits, ethnic return, commerce and labor, to mention a few). At the same time, Governments in the region need to distinguish between “regular” and “irregular” migration, adopting this distinction, which is typically not used. In line with international practice, regular movement takes place when a migrant uses recognized legal channels. In contrast, irregular migration is a broader term than clandestine or illegal movement, as it does not necessarily involve conscious and premeditated breach of rules of entry, residence or employment. In fact, available studies show that many migrants out of and into Central Asia violate migration legislation due to insufficient knowledge of the rules or failure to comply by employers or intermediaries. To respond adequately to the migration flows in the region, policymakers and practitioners are advised to consider migration from a broader perspective. Migration dynamics in Central Asia are usually approached by governments through a security lens, which limits the sharing of potentially available data with external international counterparts due to country security concerns. Migration is not understood yet as a development factor, which can have a positive impact on the countries prosperity.

Both UNHCR and IOM mentioned that “Not all people that are moving irregularly are criminals.”  Ms. Hadjiemmanuel added that the irregularity of emigration in Central Asia could be characterized by a three-step process, beginning with a visa-free movement, enabling an entry and a 90-day stay; this is sometimes followed by an extension of stay and failure to comply with regulations, people’s own ignorance or employer’s negligence. The third step is when abuse of work permits occurs and this causes a potential for deportation, especially with legal systems being too “rigid and complicated.”

“There are currently around one billion migrants in the world – 1 in 7 people are on the move. We are seeing unprecedented human mobility – both forced and voluntary. There are close to six million migrants in Central Asia, where people emigrate primarily for economic reasons, drawn mainly by cultural and linguistic proximity as well as geographical proximity. Key countries of destination for migrant workers from Central Asia are Kazakhstan and Russia. More than 73% of appr. 1 million of all registered non-nationals in Kazakhstan are from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan,” Ms. Hadjiemmanuel said.

In conclusion, the IOM Deputy Coordinator for Central Asia said that migration is an inevitable process and that it is desirable, if well-governed, and necessary for development and growth. “To make migration a process that we can benefit from we should strive to reduce forced and irregular migration, facilitate regular migration and protect the rights of all migrants,” said Ms. Tatiana Hadjiemmanuel. She also emphasized that regional cooperation both on the level of Governments as well as International Organizations is very important in addressing mixed migration challenges. She referred to the cooperation of IOM and UNHCR in support of the Regional Consultative Process “Almaty Process” as well as to the policy and programmatic areas that IOM engages, in particular, under the project “Addressing Mixed Migration Flows through Capacity Building in Central Asia” funded by the USA Government (PRM) targeting a series of regional trainings and policy dialogue events. 

Students asked the speakers a lot of questions. They were interested to know whether specializing in migration law was a good job prospect, where one could pursue a career after that and how countries handle migration crises similar to the one taking place in Lebanon and other nations that were being flooded by migrants and refugees following the conflict in Syria.

The presentation “Mixed Migration Flows in Central Asia” was the first in a series of other lectures dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the United Nations and to be conducted at the KazGUU Academic Diplomatic Club throughout 2015.

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