A 25-year-old resident of Dushanbe has been detained on suspicion of organizing illegal labor migration, according to the Interior Ministry’s press center.
He reportedly established an employment agency Mehr-2017 LTD without permission of the Ministry of Labor, Migration and employment of the Population and was illegally sending Tajik nationals abroad for seasonal work.
He took 11,000 U.S. dollars from two residents of Dushanbe and one resident of Hisor Township promising to employ them in Europe, the Interior Ministry’s press center said, noting that he concluded written contracts with them.
Criminal proceedings have been instituted and an investigation is under way.
Widespread unemployment at home has forced some 1 million Tajiks — out of a population of some 8 million — to look for jobs abroad. Many are engaged in seasonal work in Russia, and contribute to Tajikistan's economy by sending remittances to family.
Meanwhile some Tajik national are also migrating to the European countries and the number of Tajiks seeking asylum in the European Union countries is rising.
The Rising Risks of Misrule in Tajikistan released by the International Crisis Group in October 2017 notes that 3,230 Tajiks applied for asylum in EU countries in 2016, up from 1,160 in 2015 and 605 in 2014.
