Tighter Uzbek migration rules cause border back-up
| Publisher | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| Publication Date | 19 February 2013 |
| Cite as | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Tighter Uzbek migration rules cause border back-up, 19 February 2013, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/513dd1b023.html [accessed 6 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
February 19, 2013
By RFE/RL's Uzbek Service
Hundreds of thousands of Uzbek labor migrants travel to Kazakhstan and Russia each year for seasonal work.
GHISHTKUPRIK, Uzbekistan – Thousands of Uzbeks have been stuck along the Uzbek-Kazakh border since February 17 as border guards introduced new regulations for labor migrants heading to Kazakhstan.
An official at the Ghishtkuprik checkpoint told RFE/RL on February 19 that Uzbek labor migrants could now cross the border only if they had a work permit in their destination country and a work agreement with a company there.
An official at the Uzbek Interior Ministry told RFE/RL that the new regulations had been introduced to prevent human trafficking.
Hundreds of thousands of Uzbek labor migrants travel to Kazakhstan and Russia each year for seasonal work.
At a cabinet session last month, Uzbekistan's authoritarian President Islam Karimov harshly criticized his interior minister for "his failure to provide Uzbek youths with jobs, which turns them into labor migrants abroad."
Link to original story on RFE/RL website
