DUSHANBE, September 7, 2012, Asia-Plus — In the frame of the Swiss Human Rights Program, the Ombudsman of the Republic of Tajikistan will meet with his counterpart from Sverdlovsk oblast, Russian Federation, as well as with government and civil society stakeholders to discuss protection of labor migrants’ rights issues, press release issued by the Swiss Cooperation office Tajikistan said.
A delegation composed of Human Rights Ombudsman of RT, staff members of his office, as well as the Human Rights Advisor of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs will pay a working visit to Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk oblast from September 9-13.
The Ombudsman of RT will meet his counterpart from Sverdlovsk oblast, to strengthen their cooperation, which is based on the Memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed last December in Dushanbe and to discuss labor migration issues.
The trip is taking place within the frame of the project “Building capacity of the Human Rights Ombudsman in Tajikistan to protect the rights of labor migrants” implemented by the public organization “Human Rights Center.” Along with financing, the Swiss Human Rights Program also supports the project with technical assistance and expertise, in particular through active and continuous involvement of its Human Rights Advisor in the project implementation.
The aim of the working visit is to build capacity of the Ombudsman’s Office personnel in the field of migration, in particular in dealing with labor migrants’ issues and protecting their rights. The visitors program includes meetings with officers of RT’s Migration Service and Consulate in Sverdlovsk oblast, as well as visits of Tajik labor migrants at their workplaces. Furthermore, the delegation will participate at a round-table with government and non-government institutions of Sverdlovsk oblast working in the field of human rights, as well as with mass media and Tajik Diaspora, in order to discuss cooperation perspectives in protecting the rights of Tajik labor migrants.
In addition, the Human Rights Ombudsman of RT and the Swiss Human Rights Advisor will hold a meeting with the first deputy governor of Sverdlovsk Oblast and with officers of Russia’s Federal Migration Service (FMS)’s office in Sverdlovsk oblast.
In the course of the working visit, staff members of the Ombudsman’s Office will learn from the experience of their colleagues from Sverdlovsk Office on labor migration issues. It is expected that the results of this working visit will be incorporated into the discussion at the Regional Conference of Ombudsmen of Russian Federation and Central Asia, which is scheduled in Dushanbe for late October 2012.
