Advocacy of migrant rights in Russia during the COVID-19 pandemic

Migrant workers make a significant contribution both to the economies of their home country and to the economies of the country where they work. The health of migrants is a key condition for effective labor migration, therefore, ensuring the access of migrants to health services benefits both the country of origin and the country of destination.
Rukhshona Kurbonova IOM National Officer, Subregional Coordinator of Migrant Health Programs in Central Asia

Problem and Tasks

Labor migration is an integral part of the modern history of the Republic of Tajikistan. According to various estimates, the number of migrant workers from Tajikistan ranges from 500,000 to 1 million people (almost 10% of the country’s population). According to Russian law, the HIV-positive status of foreign citizens is an obstacle to entry into the Russian Federation (process to obtain a visa) and obtaining a work permit, as well as an occasion to receive notification of the undesirability of staying in the Russian Federation.
According to official figures, the proportion of migrants among new HIV cases registered in Tajikistan increased from 10.1 percent in 2014 to 18.8 percent in 2018. Labor migrants practice risky sexual behavior, which also contributes to the growth of sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Since 2005, IOM has been implementing projects on the health of migrants and, together with partners, is trying to provide comprehensive services in synergy with legal, social support, and access to HIV and TB services, including among key individuals. The Ministry of Labor, Migration and Employment of the Republic of Tatarstan, as well as the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of the Republic of Tatarstan and public organizations are actively involved in the implementation of projects.

The coronavirus pandemic created new challenges where labor migrants were in the most vulnerable position. It is necessary to take operational decisions in order to avoid interruption of treatment and the potential deterioration in the health of migrants residing in the Russian Federation.

Closing borders has aggravated the situation of migrants living with HIV, as lack of access to ARV treatment affects their immune status and makes them even more vulnerable to COVID19 infection.

Decisions and actions:

Considering the COVID-19 pandemic, the Republican Center for AIDS Prevention and Control in Tajikistan provided people living with HIV ART with medications in advance for several months to reduce the need to go to the AIDS Centers for medications.

At the same time, migrants living with HIV and located in the Russian Federation receive ART using informal networks, some managed to get it in advance from the Republican AIDS Center of Tajikistan, which transmitted ART to their migrants through relatives. During this difficult time, diaspora organizations in the Russian Federation played a significant role in supporting migrants by providing information and social assistance. For example, the Tajik diaspora of the NGO “NUR” provides food assistance to vulnerable migrants, mobilized volunteer doctors from among the diaspora to consult and assist in the hospitalization of migrant workers. The hotline telephone is working around the clock.

The ITPCru Treatment Preparedness Coalition, together with Life4me.plus, is helping people living with HIV who find themselves in a country with limited travel restrictions receiving antiretroviral medications.

One of the main challenges was the difficulties associated with the need to pay for patents to extend the documented staying of migrants in the Russian Federation. With the temporary closure of private and other enterprises and the forced reduction of workers or sending on unpaid leave, many migrants were unable to pay for patents. This fact made thousands of migrants violators of the migration law, according to which entry into Russia for migrants could be closed for several years. To help migrants, embassies, international and public organizations united, who turned to the Government of the Russian Federation with concrete proposals that could improve the situation of migrants.

Result

At the end of April, the long-awaited news came – the Russian president signed the Decree “On temporary measures to resolve the legal status of foreign citizens and stateless people in the Russian Federation in connection with the threat of the further spread of a new coronavirus infection (COVID-19),” which provides for the following: employment of a foreign citizen is NOT determined by a work permission, nor by a patent, or even the purpose of entry into a migration card, but only by observing the rules of self-isolation by the employer; the stay of foreigners in Russia until June 15 is not due to migration registration, visa, terms of the temporary residence permit, residence permit, patent, etc .; payment of patents is suspended from March 15 to June 15; it is forbidden to make decisions on expulsion, deportation, readmission, undesirability of stay, a ban on entry, and a reduction in the length of stay.’