DUSHANBE, November 17, 2011, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan plans to send Tajik labor migrants, who were deported from Russia, to Belarus, Tajikistan’s Migration Service head Safiallo Devonayev announced at a two day seminar on migration issues that opened in Dushanbe today.
“Tajikistan and Belarus signed a government-to-government agreement on labor activity of our nationals in this country at the end of October,” said Devonayev. “Therefore, there ought not to fear the deportation of our nationals from Russia. We will send the deported migrants to Belarus.”
At the same time, the Migration Service head is sure that the situation around Tajik migrants in Russia has a temporary character. “The sides are currently working to solve this issue,” Devonayev said, adding that a Tajik government delegation led by Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi will go to Moscow in the near future.
It is to be noted that in the week since a Tajik court sentenced a Russian and an Estonian pilot to prison sentences for their unauthorized refueling stops en route from Kabul, Russian officials have rounded up hundreds of Tajik immigrants for possible expulsion. Hundreds of Tajiks have been arrested in Moscow alone, at least 12 have been deported, and many others are awaiting rulings on their possible deportation.
Devonayev noted that 241 Tajik nationals are currently being held at temporary detention centers run by Russia’s Interior Ministry.
According to some sources, some one million Tajik nationals are engaged in seasonal jobs in Russia, and the remittances they send to their relatives keep many struggling families at home above the poverty line, and help to alleviate the stress caused by a lack of domestic job opportunities.
