Post Press Release

Date: 8 December 2017

Venue: Conference hall “Aq Shanyraq”, Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan

The roundtable “Promoting Orderly, Safe, Regular and Responsible Migration and Protecting Migrants’ Rights through the Implementation of Migration Policy Concept of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2017-2021” was conducted as a part of the capacity building activities under IOM Regional Project “Addressing Migration Movements through Capacity Building in Central Asia”

The event, co-organized by the International Organization for Migration (IOM)/The UN Migration Agency Sub Regional Coordination Office in Central Asia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population of the Republic of Kazakhstan, gathered government officials (local and central level), NGOs, diaspora/community/religious leaders, private sector from North Kazakhstan, Kostanai, Pavlodar and South Kazakhstan regions, as well as national experts.

 Mr. Dejan Keserovic, Coordinator for Central Asia, Chief of Mission in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, International Organization for Migration, welcome all participants and noted that: 

“There is no migration crisis, there is only problem of unregulated migration. Migration itself is natural throughout the world. Petropavlovsk is becoming an example of a positive experience in the development of the system and  regulating migratory flows”

The overall objective of the roundtable was to offer a platform to discuss and analyze key migration trends and challenges, migrants’ vulnerabilities and recent policy, programmatic, and operational developments in the field of migration management in Kazakhstan. The event was an opportunity to overview the migration situation in the country, identify the specific needs, challenges and opportunities that regions face, present existing international good practices on orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration management and promote migrants’ rights. Particular emphasis was made on the discussion of recently adopted Migration Policy Concept of the Republic of Kazakhstan for.

The Migration Concept covers four following pillars:  building an effective system of external labor migration oriented towards meeting the needs of the country's economy, creating a favorable investment climate and improving the quality of labor resources; updating the policy on ethnic migration by taking into account the strategic development plans of Kazakhstan in order to strengthen national consolidation and create favorable conditions for the adaptation and integration of ethnic returnees in the Republic of Kazakhstan; suppression of illegal migration[1]; creation of an effective system for managing internal migration for the purpose of economically justified population resettlement, while ensuring the regional and demographic balance of the country's development.

By the end of the event participants acquired a deeper understanding of international experience and Kazakhstan’s policies in managing migration flows and were equipped on how to promote orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and protect migrant’s right through the implementation of the Migration Policy Concept.

[1] The term ‘illegal migration’ is still used by the Government of Kazakhstan. The Law on Migration of Population of the Republic of Kazakhstan stipulates ‘illegal immigration’ as entry into the Republic of Kazakhstan and stay of foreigners or stateless persons in the Republic of Kazakhstan with violation of the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan regulating either order of entry or stay, as well as transit through the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan.