Global Migration Governance and the Migrant Experience

Migrant narratives normally appear briefly after two types of incidents —tragedies and reports on radicalization. In January this year when a bus carrying more than 50 Uzbek migrant workers on their way to Russia burst into flames on the Kazakh border desperate migrant journeys emerged briefly in the news. Similarly, after the metro bombings in St Petersburg in 2017 migration as a potential source of radicalization brought into focus the inevitability of the migration-security nexus and the assumption that the ‘cost’ associated with migration is that of the state alone. This of course is a misnomer which then leads to a search for global migration governance with the assumption that it is states which through international cooperation can maximize the benefits and minimize the costs associated with migration.

In response to this a manifesto on humane mobility underlines that a ‘reimagining of migration’ is required to take note of the fact that it is people on the move who are required to be at the centre of the migration debate and the decision making process, not the exclusionary sovereign rights of states. The need of the hour is to develop more inclusive and creative ways of dealing with human mobility that takes note of individuals, communities and organizations that live and work in the ‘spaces of displacement’. It goes on to underline that here individual narratives assume relevance as reductionist categories limit the understanding of complex migration journeys. It is within this context that identification of communities and groups at risk in countries of origin, on smuggling networks and on how potential migrants’ asses and re-asses their chances of movement become significant.

The discussion assumes relevance in the background of the discussions on Global Compact for Safe Orderly and Regular Migration held at Marrakesh on 10-11 December 2018, where a massive group of world population is being treated as whole thereby reducing the significance of both individual narratives and journeys but also the variety of protection modes that are offered in Asian states, the multiple ways in which receiving societies deal with the influx and resultant manifold refugee experiences. Among the many issues that require identification, migrant smuggling networks and how they operate within different environments is increasingly assuming relevance. While multiple terms are used by national legislature and international bodies to define smuggling of migrants, UN Smuggling Protocol defines it as: “Procurement in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit of the illegal entry of a person into a State of which the person is not a national or permanent resident.” Migrant narratives, on the other hand, illustrate the complexities of multiple migrant experiences but also the fact that these complexities are specific to regions thereby bringing into question the ‘whole of society approach’ that the Global Compact articulates. The discussion that follows illustrates this in the Central Asian case.

Central Asian states, like many others, are migrant origin, migrant destination and transit states and both the geopolitical location of the region as well as its porous borders have made the region prone to irregular movements. Smuggling of migrants is not a widely researched subject in Central Asia since smuggling of migrants within the Central Asian states is not a widespread activity because of visa free travel for limited periods being legal except in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. However, Central Asia is the route through which migrants from South and South East Asia or Afghanistan travel further west. While there is a general acceptance of the fact that it requires critical analysis, data on migrant smuggling remains under reported. Most of the data is either based on the few interceptions that happen at borders or in narratives about migrant lives that have been collected through ethnographic studies and/or in the media and internet. Also when irregular migrants are intercepted at the borders there is little information about whether their movement was supported by facilitators.

In the Central Asian situation the facilitators are in most cases a complex network of people who support the entire process from illegal entry to extended stays and provision of accommodation and employment and can include officials. In any case most of the focus of state and non-state actors remains on trafficking of persons and little attention is paid to identifying networks that facilitate the process of migrant smuggling. Collection of reliable data about migrant smuggling is also challenged by the fact that in most cases the migrant himself is an accomplice and neither the migrant nor the smuggler wish to be detected. The multiple networks and complicated routes along which this movement happens, given the difficult terrain on the one hand and established routes on the other, also prove to be a hindrance.

There are numerous stories of Central Asian migrants who pay intermediaries at borders to move them across but are subsequently faced with adverse situations beyond their control. Trafficking and forced labour are particularly severe abuses of exceptional violation, but nonpayment of wages is rampant, by private and state employers alike.  Migrant workers typically do not know when they will be paid, how much they will be paid, or even if they will be paid. Most do not have written contracts and labour relations are governed by verbal agreements. Since the practices of non-payment or delayed payment are so pervasive, many workers feel they have no choice but to remain at a job for weeks or months in hopes of one day receiving all or some of the wages owed to them.  So the voluntary nature of the movement may change upon arrival at the destination. While migrant smuggling as a transnational phenomenon is generally identified as a crime against the state in cases where the migrants are misled by the intermediaries their rights may be violated and it becomes a human rights issue.

In the Central Asian scenario the story may be complicated by the fact that in addition to the ‘smuggler’ intermediaries are often involved in the process. The United Nations Protocol identifies producing fraudulent travel or identity documents, enabling a person who is not a national or a permanent resident to remain in the state without necessary documents and acting as an accomplice in migrant smuggling as falling within the purview of migrant smuggling. In Central Asia scenario all of these are involved and migrant smuggling is a complex process with interrelated layers operating at various levels. Most migrant stories bring to the forefront the fact that there are well established systems of acquiring fraudulent documents and aiding migrants in overstaying their visa periods. Bhavna Dave in “Getting by as a Gastarbeiter in Kazakhstan” talks about Gulnara whose husband is a policeman and who owns three retail outlets at Barakholka (a large market in the outskirts of Almaty). One is leased to a Kyrgyz woman, who together with members of her extended family (shuttling back and forth between Almaty and Bishkek to manage their legal status), sells garments made in Bishkek. Her husband drives a taxi between Almaty and Bishkek, and also carries passports of fellow Kyrgyz migrants to secure a new migration card. The other two are leased to Kyrgyz and Uzbek migrants selling fruit and vegetables. Gulnara is a ‘fixer’ who recognizes that her business interests and the well being of the migrants are interlinked. She also runs a marriage agency that helps migrants obtain citizenship or residency in Kazakhstan through marriage.

Given the porous nature of the borders it is not surprising that much of the research that examines migrant smuggling through the region records this movement from South and South East Asia through the Central Asian region and then onward to Russia and Western Europe. Most of the migrants enter Central Asia on valid student, tourist and business visas where the migrants are advised to incorrectly state the reason for their travel. Smuggled migrants generally arrive in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan first and then travel through Kazakhstan and Russia to Europe. Very often established routes for smuggling contraband arms and drugs are used for the transit of irregular migrants. A price is also set for this and non-payment or fraud on the part of the smuggler means that the migrant finds himself stranded between borders. However, lack of proper documentation is also a major reason for illegal transit as is the very large numbers of people who travel as labourers. Since they rarely have legally binding work contracts their movements are irregular and often unregistered in the system.

Many migrant workers speak of having specific and highly coordinated routes and routines, knowing parts of the city that are ‘safe’ and districts in which their own unfamiliarity and the lack of acquaintances amongst the local police force render them vulnerable to arbitrary document checks. Deportations, whilst not common, are frequent enough for every migrant worker to know someone who had been unceremoniously deported from Russia. They thus represented a very real risk; particularly at times when terrorist threat gives ‘securitization’ a distinctly racial twist.

Migrant smuggling is thus a larger issue than just the transit of migrants across porous borders in the region. It involves formal and informal arrangements at borders, an intricate network of facilitators at various points along the border and within the states and finally trans-border arrangements that move beyond the Central Asian region. The process also involves attitudes of people who live along the borders as well as those of border guards on each side. As a study on the Tajik Afghan border demonstrates smuggling and trafficking along the borders is an everyday affair and very often customs agents and border guards tend to follow informal institutional norms or unwritten agreements rather than written rules.

This is the complex ground reality that most commentaries on global migration governance, ignores making it problematic at various levels but mostly because it overlooks the multi-faceted and complex processes of displacement. Whether it is acceptance in a new society as refugees, migrants, and guest workers, or returning home to post-conflict situations, each scenario involves both specific physical challenges and difficult encounters with broader political communities. The systemic denial of access to rights, or, their selective attribution calls for a re-evaluation that links forced migration, labour studies, citizenship and rights debates rather than isolating the migrant experience.

Anita

23 December 2018