The mission took place within the framework of FIDH’s actions aimed at the promotion and protection of migrants’ rights in the region. [1]
As Kazakhstan prepares to take the Chair of the OSCE in January 2010, FIDH highlights the reforms urgently required to ensure that migrant workers and refugees receive the protection to which they are entitled under international law.
Opportunities for migrants to work legally in Kazakhstan under the quota system are highly restrictive and have become more so in 2009 when quotas were slashed in response to the financial crisis. Such restrictions force migrants into irregular situations and increase their vulnerability. One of the main problems is not addressed in the most recent draft of the law on migration, currently under discussion: work permits are still to be issued to employers with the result that migrants are in situations of dependency, unable to leave or change employers.
The FIDH report also documents cases of violations of the rights of migrants working in the agriculture and construction industries: long working hours, lack of rest days, confiscation of passports, non-payment of salaries and sale of migrant workers from one employer to another. Such violations are generally committed with complete impunity due to widespread corruption within the police, customs, and border officials. FIDH found the situation of asylum seekers and refugees in Kazakhstan deeply concerning.