On March 27 representatives of the British Embassy in Uzbekistan visited pilot centers for labor migrants in the cities of Fergana, Andijan and Namangan. This visit was organized as а part of a joint initiative of the Ministry of Employment and Labor Relations of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the British Embassy and the joint project of the Women's Committee of Uzbekistan and UNDP “Women's empowerment to participate in public administration” to  increase legal culture and legal awareness of labor migrants.

This initiative is aimed at three areas of the Fergana Valley (Fergana, Andijan and Namangan) due to the high level of labor migration from these areas. In particular, the project is aimed at improving the legal culture and legal awareness of labor migrants, their families, representatives of state structures, as well as specialists of local government bodies in regulating the rule of law in the field of labor migration, as well as at creating a positive attitude towards migrant workers adaptation of migrants.

Labor migration is an actual problem of our time. The number of labor migrants in the world is growing every year and has already exceeded 164 million people. According to the Federal Migration Service of Russia, an average of about 840,000 citizens of Uzbekistan, 367,000 citizens of Tajikistan and 134,000 citizens of the Kyrgyz Republic had permission to work in the Russian Federation during 2010-2014 (annually). They accounted for more than half of the total number of foreign workers officially working in Russia during this period.

As a part of this project, a number of trainings were organized for migrants and state structures to improve the mechanisms of legal regulation of external and internal labor migration in the practice of state bodies of the Republic of Uzbekistan. From December 2018 through March 2019, 1,170 consultations were held with migrants and their families in the Fergana, Namangan, Andijan regions and the city of Kokand.

In this regard, a visit was organized by the Representatives of the British Embassy to familiarize themselves with the results of this initiative to establish pilot centers for migrant workers from December 2018 to March 2019.

During the visit, the representatives of the embassy visited the Citizens' Employment Bureau abroad in the city of Fergana, where one of the pilot centers for migrant workers is located, as well as pilot centers in Andijan and Namangan, where they met with the staff of the Bureau and representatives of the Ministry of Employment and Labor Relations.   During the visits the results of the work in the center for the support of migrant workers were discussed.

According to experts, in order to optimize the labor migration process, it is necessary to increase the level of literacy and professional training of migrant workers leaving, create accessible language training centers in all regions.

In addition, it is necessary to improve and introduce a system of registration of migrants leaving and returning after (long) stay in other countries to develop effective mechanisms for their rehabilitation and reintegration. It is required to work with the families of migrant workers to ensure the sustainability of the economic and social indicators of the family.