UN to Russia: Prevent Exploitation, Protect Migrants

The UN criticized Russia today for spending about as much time trying to protect migrant workers from exploitation as Donald Trump spends on his hair. And what little effort they've expended on laws and programs aiding migrants has left results about as palatable as Trump's. It's time for Russia to stop relying on abused, exploited, and enslaved migrant labor.  

Millions of migrants, many of them from former Soviet bloc countries, are currently working in Russia. Most of them work in low-paying jobs like construction, factory production, agriculture, and domestic service. Migrant workers from the former Soviet Union not only provide a primary labor pool for Russia, they are vital to the economic health of their home countries. For example, money sent to Tajikistan by citizens working abroad represented 45% of its gross domestic product, an earlier U.N. study found. Most of Tajikistan's migrant workers are employed in Russia. So Russia and supplier countries both need this migration to work to continue.

Russian law, however, does not support even the most basic human rights for these workers, nor does it allow them access to social services. Because of this lack of legal protection, migrant workers in Russia are vulnerable to and suffer from exploitation, violence, and even slavery. The kicker for this whole situation is that Russia needs these workers to simply function as a country of production and industry. Their population has been steadily decreasing since the mid-1990s, and they have relied primarily on migrant labor from former Soviet bloc countries to bulk up their workforce. Perhaps this is the real reason Russia has been reluctant to engage in legal reform: fear that raising workers' wages will prevent companies from importing more workers and ultimately reduce the workforce.

But Russia should realize that creating legal protections for workers that prevent human trafficking and exploitation will eventually increase their labor force. When workers are paid fairly and given good working conditions, they will tend to stay in Russia longer to work and return to Russia (instead of another country) if they return home and need to work abroad again. It's a win-win situation for Russia and the migrant workers. But who knows how long it will take for Russia to see what needs to be done and then do it.

Photo credit: vokabre