Insurance Fund Proposed for Migrant Workers

A proposal to set up an insurance fund providing cover for the families of migrant workers has been welcomed in Tajikistan, but NBCentralAsia experts say it would have to be run by the state and also provide protection for the workers themselves.



The Tajik weekly newspaper Business i Politika has been running a campaign for past few weeks, arguing that the families of Tajik citizens working abroad need compulsory insurance.



The newspaper is proposing to set up a support fund for families who are left destitute when their breadwinner dies or falls ill while working abroad. Money for the fund would be collected from all migrants about to go abroad, but some readers say the proposal is flawed and such a fund would be wide open to abuse and corruption.



Every year, over half a million Tajiks go abroad in search of work and many end up in Russia as illegal migrants where they are vulnerable to accidents, racist attacks and other crimes.



The bodies of over 100 dead migrants have been brought back to Tajikistan from Russia since the beginning of this year.



Observers polled by NBCentralAsia have welcomed the idea of an insurance fund, but say it should be run by the state and provide cover for the workers themselves, not just their families.



Professor Hojimuhammad Umarov, an economist who specialises in migration, says the state should set up a fund which would be based on income from loans to migrants offered on soft terms. The scheme should fall under the labour and social defence ministry, he believes.



Umarov said that since a third of all diaspora workers develop diseases that require lengthy treatment and most of the money they earn is spent on medical bills, so the fund needs to cover migrants themselves, not just their families.



Rahmon Ulmasov, editor-in-chief of the Migrant journal, suggests developing a scheme where employers pay the welfare insurance. One branch of the insurance fund based in Tajikistan would look after the families and another would be located in Russia and deal with the expatriate workers. Russia is the principal destination for Tajik migrants.



Gulchehra Bozorova, head of the parliamentary committee for economic, budget, financial and tax affairs, told NBCentralAsia that 150,000 somoni, or about 43,000 US dollars has been allocated from the state budget this year to help migrants cope with unforeseen circumstances.



It is a small sum, she agrees, but “if the situation arises, the state can allocate more money”.



Although member of parliament Galia Rabieva would like the fund to operate like a private Tajik insurance company, Yahyo Vahobov, head of migration at the labour and social defence ministry says the mechanisms are not in place for that yet.



The state should not set up a fund like this until it can find a way of collecting money from the destination countries which also levy fees and taxes from migrant workers, he says. Tajikistan and Russia are currently drafting an intergovernment agreement on social insurance for the labour migrants.



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)