the Silk Road. The economic and developmental dimension of migration is more prominent every day, standing side by side with the security and regulatory agenda, itself also growing and taking new forms. Helped by IOM, the Kyrgyz Government for its part is taking a new and active interest in migration issues, particularly in the areas of capacity building for State Committee on Migration, Border Guards, Customs, Police and other government departments involved in migration process. Government is also increasingly interested in effective border management, measures to counter trafficking and smuggling of persons and broadly compatible identity systems. The Government increasingly recognizes the necessity of labor migration to fill gaps in their job market and gives considerable attention on the better use of remittance transfers as a development tools, allowing poorer parts of nation to profit from the wages of those who seek work where it can be found.
At the same time irregular migration and trafficking in persons continue disturbingly both in this country and the region, in spite of all our efforts.
In a nutshell, the advantages and problems of globalization have come to center on Central Asian region and specifically on Kyrgyzstan and the attendant need to work together on population mobility questions can only grow.
So how IOM helps to cope with this rapidly expanding migration workload? IOM offices in Kyrgyzstan and in Central Asia carry out a number of ground breaking activities. The know-how accumulated in IOM projects is spreading not only in Kyrgyzstan but in all of the region’s states through the network of IOM offices, IOM partner NGO organizations and through regional information sharing and training.
For example, in the field of assistance to the victims of trafficking, IOM offices, supported by the donor governments of Norway, Sweden and the United States carry out a range of advanced prevention, protection, rescue, return and rehabilitation and job integration programs. Joint IOM-Kyrgyz efforts to assist victims of trafficking could be a model for similar activities in other countries.
EC-supported IOM regional work on labor migration is linked to the plans to create framework for a Central Asian free movement of labor; IOM has relevant experience in labor migration arrangements between states and this know how is being transferred to this region and to the Kyrgyz Republic.
Trans-border cooperation, US Government funded border management programmes with extensive work done on the upgrade of border port of entries, ECHO-funded projects aimed to reduce vulnerability of communities to natural disasters, programmes aimed at temporary work permits for workers within the region and outside, facilitated return, remittance management and micro-credit investment schemes for returnees and to dampen migration pressures, Danish Government funded programmes aimed at promoting peace and stability in Ferghana Valley – all these are good and right options.
The IOM migration management and migration for development agenda inspires further ideas for greater pro-activity in making migration a component of regional integration and economic progress.
IOM with the help of its donors will continue to seek to develop better migration management in the Kyrgyz Republic and Central Asia, and help the Governments to face up to the major challenges of the future and work hard to make the Central Asia and Kyrgyz Republic a model of international cooperation in the field of human mobility.
Please take time and explore our web page that in brief explains many programmes that we implement in the Kyrgyz Republic and Central Asia.
Thank you very much for your interest. |
