The two-day conference on "Effective waysof legal assistance for labor migrants: Role of Ombudsmen of Central Asia and Russian Federation" was held in Dushanbe on 30-31 October 2012 in the framework of the Regional Migration Programme in Central Asia and Russia implemented by UN Women, IOM and the World Bank  with a financial support of UK Government and the Project "Strengthening Capacity of the Human Rights Ombudsmanof Tajikistan to Protectthe rights oflabor migrants,"funded by the Human Rights Program  of Switzerland.

The conference was organized by Ombudsman of Tajikistan in cooperation   with the Tajik NGO Human Rights Centre. The aim of the conference was strengthen cooperation between Ombudsmen of CA and Russia and NGOs providing services for migrants, to increase the level of their accountability on fulfillment of international obligations by UN member-states in the area of protection of rights of labor migrants, and to agree on practical mechanisms for cooperation to protect rights of migrants and members of their families. 

The conference was attended by ombudsmen and civil society organizations as well as government and international representatives from Russia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan (from NGO "Sana Sezim"was attended by Vice-President -Khasanova Sh.K  ).

NGO partners, IOM and UN Women who works in the framework of regional program on migration, they shared their experiences and suggestions for effective protection of the rights of labor migrants and their families in the country of  destination and the country of origin of migration.  

In the CIS space Tajikistan Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are the major providers of labor migrants predominantly to Russian Federation and Kazakhstan. The key challenge lies in the fact that the majority of them do not have sufficient vocational skills, and the level of their education is, in general, low. The problem is exacerbated by legal illiteracy and lack of knowledge of languages of countries of destination of migrants, in particular Russian. These factors contribute to their vulnerability and discrimination and may also lead to labor exploitation and slavery.

In order to respond to these challenges Ombudsmen of countries of origin and countries of destination, in particular Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Russia – initiated establishment of joint cooperation in this area, in order to develop mechanisms and define practical measures that will be directed to ensuring adequate legal counseling to labor migrants in case of violation of their rights. The Conference will bring together the Ombudsmen and civil society organizations, as well as Government and International representatives.