Banu Akadlı Ergöçmen

Hacettepe University Institute of Population StudiesAnkara, Turkey

bergocme@hacettepe.edu.tr

REGIONAL WORKSHOP ON MIGRATION STATISTICS

Review of Migration Policy Responses in EECA Countries

Organized by: UNECE, UNFPA

İn collaboration with: IOM, UN-DESA

26-27 October 2011, Antalya

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Existing Policy ResponsesInternationalRegional National Policy Instruments

How Policy Responses EvolvedChallenges and Lessons Learned

International Instruments

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Almost all countries adopted the selected international conventions on trafficking and smuggling, discrimination and human rights.

The 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol was ratified by all countries except Uzbekistan.

Conventions related to the migrant workers are ratified by less than half of the countries in the region:

The proportion of ratification of Conventions regarding stateless persons in the region is low as well

International Instruments

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Almost all countries adopted the selected international conventions on trafficking and smuggling, discrimination and human rights.

TRAFFICKING AND SMUGGLING UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime; Protocol to

Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime 2000; Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography 2000 (except Russia); Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime 2000 (except Uzbekistan)

DISCRIMINATION International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial

Discrimination 1965; Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women 1979 

HUMAN RIGHTS International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966; International

Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1966; Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment 1984; Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989

Regional Instruments

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Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS),

Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Collective Security Treaty Organization

(CSTO),

Other selected regional structures:Council of EuropeSöderköping Process

Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS): Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia (withdrawn from CIS in 2008), Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan (unofficial associate member of CIS), Ukraine (officially not a member of CIS, but de facto participating), Uzbekistan

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Has agreements related to labor migration, illegal migration, trafficking in persons, refugees and human rights:The 1993 Treaty on Support to Refugees and Forced Migrants (not ratified by Georgia in the CIS only)The 1995 Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ratified by Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Federation and Tajikistan)The 1993 Convention on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations in Civil, Family and Criminal Matters (known as the Minsk Convention, which is ratified by all countries in the CIS)The 2002 Kishinev (Chisinau) Convention on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations in Civil, Family and Criminal Cases (not all members ratified it and Minsk Conv. in effect when one party has not ratified the Kishinev Conv.)

Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)

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Established in 2001 by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Federation, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan (and China):

The Convention on combating terrorism, separatism and extremism in 2001: calls for measures against terrorism, separatism and extremism (involves the extradition of individuals suspected the activities mentioned)

According to the Declaration of Heads of Member States of SCO 2005, in Astana, the SCO states have committed to denying asylum to all individuals accused or suspected of terrorism, extremism or separatism. The Astana Declaration makes no reference to international obligations of the member states, including the principle of non-refoulement by the 1951 Refugee Convention (Zitnanova, 2011).

Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)

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Established in 2002 by the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and Belarus.

The 2002 Charter of the CSTO, “The member States shall coordinate and harmonize their efforts in combating international terrorism and extremism, the illicit traffic in narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and arms, organized transnational crime, illegal migration and other threats to the security of the member States.”

One of the most recent developments of CSTO has been the creation of a Working group on Asylum.

The Council of Europe

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excludes the region of Central AsiaThe selected treaties include:The 1950 Convention for the Protection of

Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ratified by all countries except Belarus),

The 1957 Convention on Extradition (ratified by all countries except Belarus)

The 1977 Convention on the Legal Status of Migrant Workers (ratified by Albania, Moldova, Turkey, and Ukraine)

The 2005 Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (ratified by all countries except Belarus, Russia and Turkey)

The Söderköping Process

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Initiated by Sweden, is a cross-border cooperation process, adopted by Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Romania and Ukraine in the region.

The main initiative of this process was to respond to the challenges of EU enlargement and “to promote better cooperation on asylum and migration related issues among the countries situated along the future eastern border of EU Member states”. Other members of the process are Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Sweden.

National and Bilateral Instruments

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Action plans and national strategies adopted by the government, and state’s agreements with other communities such as readmission agreements.

Examples: 2005 Reform in Migration Policy in Russia and the

Action Plan for the Implementation of the Programme on Socio-economic Development of the Russian Federation for 2006-2008

National policies to deal with brain drain in TurkeyThe 1992 Law on the Social Protection of the

Populations Suffering from the Consequence of the Ecological Disaster in the Aral Zone in Kazakhstan

National and Bilateral Instruments

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Inter-governmental agreements such as bilateral labor agreements. Bilateral labor migration agreements formalize each side’s commitment to ensure that migration takes place in accordance with agreed principles and procedures (OSCE, IOM and ILO, 2006). Purposes of bilateral labor agreements can be economic, political and developmental.

Armenia, Belarus and the Russian Federation signed the largest number of agreements with other countries in the region.

How policy responses evolved…

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According to the 2003 Global Survey carried out by UNFPA (2004);Adoption of plans, programs and strategies on migration and refugees was the second most common in the Central Asian Republics (60 percent).Adoption of laws and legislation on immigrants and migrant workers was most common in the Central Asian Republics at over 35 percent of countries in the region.The use of an intergovernmental policy approach was most common in the Central Asian Republics as well with 60 percent.

…How policy responses evolved

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During the 1994-2004 period, the emphasis on the measures taken in the field of international migration in CIS, Eastern and Central Europe, and Central Asian Republics was on “protecting labor markets”.

Combating drug trafficking and drug abuse was another target of actions in Eastern and Central Europe, and the Central Asia Republics.

In most sub-regions, there was a focus on providing intergovernmental arrangements for the protection of workers/labor migrants in both sending and receiving countries.

How policy responses evolved

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Interestingly national migration policy measures have not been evolved in response to the demographic needs and concerns of the countries. Hence “the match between the global supply and demand for labor” has not been established within the region challenging the aim to maximize benefits from migration.

Countries facing the problem of population decline and labor force shortages such as Belarus, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Romania still have migration policies, which are over-regulating immigration flows, some due to accession to the EU and some for protective measures. For instance Ukraine has been applying a quota-system since 2001. Only the Russian Federation in 2005, has reformed its migration policy with a more liberal and deregulating approach towards immigration. 

How policy responses evolved

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In the region, countries have been paying attention to the importance of coordination in dealing with issues of international migration. Coordination mechanisms is in various types such as inter-institutional, inter-governmental, and coordination among governments, NGOs and international donors. The increasing sub-regional cooperation within the region is noteworthy as well.

Challenges and Lessons Learned

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The implementation of policies, mainly the ones which deal with irregular migration and trafficking in persons is not straightforward due to the location of the region in transit routes

Overregulation brings the risk of increased trafficking and smuggling in the region due to continuing push factors in sending countries: Tight migration policies, requirement of too many documents may cause restricted movement, arbitrary arrest and detention as well.

Domestic laws may not comply with the adopted international laws: The practice of Minsk Convention may involve the extradition of individuals at risk of persecution contradicting the “principle of non-refoulement” of the 1951 Convention on Refugees.

Challenges and Lessons Learned

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Although the policies adopted aim to response to current issues of migration in the country, their implementation may fail in practice.

Identification and assessment of urgent needs may be problematic due to lack of data and electronic databases in the region.

Challenges and Lessons Learned

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The effectiveness of policy instruments are questionable

Source: Patzwaldt, 2004

DATA IS ESSENTIAL

THANK YOU

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