KHUJAND, November 17, 2008, Asia-Plus — Tajik women should not travel abroad to work as labor migrants, Hoji Husain Mousozoda, head of the Shuroi Ulamo (Islamic religious board) for the Sughd province, stated at a session of the Social partnership Club in Khujand on November 13.
The meeting was organized to discuss the labor migration problems.
Hoji Husain Mousozoda made that remark after Dilovar Shoimov, representative of the Interior Ministry migration service for Sughd, noted that Tajikistan and Saudi Arabia had signed an agreement on employment of 2,000 Tajik nationals, including women, in Saudi Arabia. According to Shoimov, Saudi Arabia offers driving employment for Tajik men and household work for Tajik women above 45 years of age.
“We have seen state of women from Indonesia, Malaysia and other countries who are doing household work in Arab states,” said Mousozoda, “Therefore, I am sure that Tajik women should not travel to Saudi Arabia in search of a living.”
In the meantime, speaking at the meeting, Ms. Matlouba Sattorova, the chairperson of the Sughd directorate for family and women’s affairs, expressed concern that labor migrants contracted various diseases during overseas employment.
She noted that 170,000 residents of the province, including 22,000 women, have worked as migrant workers in other countries. “22,000 women are 22,000 families left without maternal supervision,” Sattorova said.
