YABLOKO conducted a round table
on Russia’s migration problems
Press Release
December 19, 2012
The YABLOKO party invited experts to discuss migration
problems in Russia. Opening the round table, Boris Misnik,
Coordinator of YABLOKO’s Political Committee, outlined the
key issues for the discussion, including control over residence
and registration, their legal basis, living conditions in
the country of residence, everyday xenophobia and others.
Sergei Mitrokhin, Galina Mikhalyova and Boris
Misnik
Galina Mikhalyova, Secretary of YABLOKO’s Political Committee,
stressed that YABLOKO realized the complexity of the migration
problems.
"We have invited experts so that they would help us
to develop a clear position on this issue. Because a social-liberal
political party offering an alternative to the government’s
policy, can not avoid this complex problem," she said.
Nadezhda Nozdrina, senior fellow at the Institute of Economic
Forecasting of the Academy of Sciences, spoke about the role
of housing in the migration process. "In our view, the
role of housing in the development of migration remains highly
undervalued by the governments responsible for the formulation
of migration policy in Russia. It is a must to have a housing
policy, and it is one of the most important components of
the state migration policy in general," Nozdrina said.
Nadezhda Nozdrina
Svetlana Gannushkina, head of the Civil Assistance committee,
a public charity organistion for assistance to forced migrants,
devoted her speech to refugees, persons without citizenships
and forced migrants. She reported on the recently adopted
Migration Policy Concept saying that she had took part in
its development.
Svetlana Gannushkina
"We are living in a period of stormy development of migration,
and migration is inevitable", Gannushkina said. According
to her, "there is no dilemma, whether migrants will work
or not, the dilemma lies in a different thing – whether they
will work legally or illegally." Russian is interested
in the legal work of migrants, so that the employer would
provide them with cheap housing, a medical insurance policy
or paid enough money to buy these things. Then the work of
a domestic worker will be competitive with that of an expensive
migrant, Gannushkina concluded.
YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin agreed with her. However,
he said, "the present situation with migration has been
virtually envisaged by the concept of Russia’s development
formed in the 1990s, and it does not correspond to the views
of the present elite."
Sergei Mitrokhin
"Then the authorities have decided that if we have too
expensive labour, we will not get foreign investment. That
is why they have abandoned the social obligations of the Soviet
Union ", Mitrokhin noted.
Mitrokhin also added that "it is impossible to solve
the problems associated with migration in isolation from other
problems; it will be impossible to balance the rights of a
migrant and a domestic worker until the minimum while the
minimum wage amounts to RUR 5,000 only (about Euro 125)."
Galina Mikhalyova spoke about the difficulties faced by the
Western countries, although the migration problem is not so
acute for them as in Russia and they have well-developed mechanism
for integration of immigrants. She also noted such an important
aspect of the problem as the double discrimination of migrants,
for example of women and minors.
Galina Mikhalyova
Andrei Babushkin, member of the Human Rights Council under
the President of the Russian Federation and member the federal
Bureau of the YABLOKO party, devoted his speech to the relationships
of migrants with the law enforcement.
Andrei Babushkin
He innumerated and dispelled the myths popular with policemen,
namely that the police are the main fighters against migrants,
migrant workers make up most of offences and that bringing
migrants to a police department is of a great preventive value.
He also noted that the “corruption index” is exceptionally
high here: only 50,000 out of 4 mln detained migrants were
brought to court for the past four years.
Babushkin also called not to overstate the criminality of
migrants. According to the official statistics, they account
for only 3.5 per cent of crimes throughout Russia; whereas
in Moscow this index is higher - about 19 per cent (but the
share of migrants within the population of the city amounts
to 24 per cent).
Babushkin also spoke about his long-standing dispute with
the chief of Meschansky Police Department in Moscow. The police
official promised to show the district statistics proving
that over 50 per cent of criminal offenses in the area were
committed by migrants. However, he managed to documentary
confirm only 23 per cent.
"All the attempts to control migration with administrative
methods are doomed to failure. No matter how severe the sanctions
against migrants were, they are unable to reduce migration
even by 1-2 per cent," he concluded. Also Babushkin expressed
his opinion that full naturalization of migrants would not
be possible. "By involving migrants into national culture
and the economy, we can raise the naturalization level from
the present 15 per cent to a maximum of 40 per cent, and will
never reach 50 per cent," he concluded.
Kirill Yankov, Director of the Economic Policy department
of the Foundation "Center for Strategic Research",
argued with the assertion that the Russian economy would not
be able to function without immigrants. According to him,
the population, natural resources and the territory should
be regarded as constants, "the task of the state is to
construct an optimal economy out of what it disposes of ".
Yankov gave the example of Japan, which does without migrants,
in spite of the fact that it has more people incapable of
work than the ablebodied. He also noted that such countries
as Finland and Belarus live without migrants.
Kirill Yankov
Closing the round table Galina Mikhalyova thanked the participants
and promised that the discussion of this complex would go
on and lead to the development by YABLOKO’s Political Committee
of policy guidelines on migration.
