DUSHANBE, November 10, 2009, Asia-Plus — In January-September this year, Tajikistan has received the bodies of 520 of its citizens from Russia, Ms Zumrad Soliyeva, the chairperson of the department for legal ensuring and support to international cooperation within the Interior Ministry Migration Service, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
According to her, fifty-six of them were killed by violence. “The Ministry of Interior has taken under special control each case of murder of our citizens abroad,” Soliyev noted.
She added that 210 Tajik nationals had perished as a result of illness in the Russian Federation over the report period.
Ms. Soliyeva underlined the necessity of medical examination of labor migrants traveling abroad. “It is to be noted that our labor migrants agree to undergo medical examination, but very reluctantly. For example, only 1,600 labor migrants have undergone medical examination over the report period and six of them that had various infectious diseases have been recommended to refrain from traveling outside the country.”
The migration service official noted that young people aged 18 to 29 constitute 36 percent of the overall number of Tajik labor migrants and 31-33 percent of them are people aged 30 to 40. “Only 24 percent of Tajik labor migrants currently working in the Russian Federation are working there legally.”
“In Russia, 35 percent of Tajik labor migrants are currently working in the construction sector, while others are working at markets, in the communal services sphere and so forth,” Soliyeva added.
The Russian Federation is the destination for some 90 percent of Tajikistan’s labor migrants working abroad.
