Project Report: Cross-border assistance to migrant workers and their families

July 31, 2024

SGS 2023 Grantee: “Korgan-M”, Shymkent, Kazakhstan, in partnership with “Sogdiana”, Uzbekistan, Navoi region, Uchkuduk city.

Project: Cross-border support and consultations for migrant workers and their families on the right to work and receive medical, social, legal and other assistance in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Here is their report:

The project was implemented from September 2023 to February 2024. “As part of the project, we exchanged cross-country experience in supporting and accompanying labour migrants, and also discussed possible risks of human rights violations that our key groups may be exposed to”, says Diana Kirgizbaeyva, head of the CSO Korgan-M, which has been operating in Kazakhstan since 2007. Its mission is to promote the development of an inclusive society in Kazakhstan and Central Asian countries.

The project encompassed a range of activities and outcomes:

information material “Guide to the rights and obligations of persons who arrive in Kazakhstan with a focus on the rights of migrant workers, women and children”;
a number of videos on priority actions for labour migration to Kazakhstan from Uzbekistan;
a map of primary health care organisations in the southern region of Kazakhstan, in cities and rural areas with the largest deployment of migrant workers (Saryagash district, Shymkent city);
a training seminar for civil society organisations in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan involved in activities to support migrant workers, entitled “Cross-border control and strengthening the role of the civil sector in respecting the rights of migrant workers”.

“… We have developed a series of video instructions in Russian and Uzbek so that migrant workers arriving in Kazakhstan from Uzbekistan are informed about the requirements of Kazakh legislation that Uzbek citizens must comply with when entering the country to work,” says Anastasia Uryupina, coordinator of Korgan-M.

QR codes for video instructions and a guide to the rights of migrant workers were distributed in the border areas covered by the project, as well as shared with partner CSOs in Uzbekistan.

“The guide itself, explaining the rights and obligations of foreign citizens arriving in Kazakhstan to work, has been produced in three languages: Russian, Uzbek and English,” says Dilyara Kirgizbayeva, manager of Korgan-M.

The materials developed as part of the project have been distributed to more than 1,500 beneficiaries. About 30 representatives of NGOs from Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan took part in the training.