Tensions Over Foreign Workers in Tajikistan

A recent brawl between local people and incoming Chinese workers suggests that the authorities in Tajikistan will have to keep an eye on the tensions that may arise out of increasing economic investment.



Analysts say the November 11 incident, when several people were injured after a fight broke out between Tajiks in the southern city of Kulyab and a squad of Chinese labourers, highlights the teething problems associated with foreign-funded construction projects where investors may want to bring in their own workers.



They argue that the authorities should take practical steps to help migrant workers and the local community get along with each other.



Siyovush Ishokov, 17, was injured when a fight broke out between around 40 Chinese construction workers and 50 Tajik men and adolescents in Kulyab.



Ishokov told IWPR that that it all began when one of a group of teenagers gathered outside a mobile phone shop threw a stone at a truck full of Chinese labourers which had stopped close by.



According to Iskhokov, dozens of Chinese got out and set upon bystanders with their tools including steel bars and hammers.



“Around Chinese men began beating up a boy who must have been ten or 11 years old. I tried to help him, but I got hit by numerous blows from steel bars. They beat me until I was unconscious.”



Kakhor Murodov, a doctor in the regional hospital, told IWPR that Ishokov was admitted with multiple injuries.



Ishokov said that although at least ten other Tajiks were wounded in the fighting, they did not go to hospital because they wanted to avoid getting into trouble with the police.



One Chinese man who was taken to hospital had to undergo minor surgery. Like the Tajiks, many other Chinese are thought to have declined hospital treatment to avoid unpleasantness with the police or with their employers.



Murodov said it was not the first time there had been a fight between Chinese workers and the locals. A few months ago, some Chinese and local boys from Mumirak, a village in the Muminobad district, had been treated at a local hospital following a fight.



Some of those interviewed for this report suggested that such incidents go unreported because neither side wants to make further trouble for themselves.



Chinese embassy staff in Dushanbe told IWPR they were unaware of the violence in Kulyab and were unable to comment.



A representative of the Tajik interior ministry who asked to remain anonymous told IWPR that there had been a marked increase in fights between locals and migrants as Chinese investment grew.



Tajikistan is one of the poorest post-Soviet countries and is struggling to attract foreign investment to turn its economy around.



Dushanbe is keen to attract investors from its giant eastern neighbour, and about 150 joint ventures are already operating.



Last year, China loaned Tajikistan 640 million US dollars to lay power lines and rebuild a road from Dushanbe to Uzbekistan.



Increased levels of economic cooperation have brought an influx of Chinese workers. According to the Tajik labour ministry, 1,000 of them were officially registered this year.



The workers involved in the brawl in Kulyab were part of a team of 300 labourers drafted in to build a high-voltage electricity transmission line from Lolazor to Khatlon.



Tajikistan has had few immigrants in recent years, and is more noted for the seasonal exodus of its own working-age population, hundreds of thousands of whom go off every year to Russia and increasingly Kazakstan to earn money they could never hope to get at home.



Observers are concerned that the unfamiliar phenomenon of incoming migrant labour could create further tensions if locals feel that the new arrivals are taking jobs that rightly belong to them.



Ghafur Rasulov, head of media relations at the Ministry for Economic Development and Trade, noted that many Chinese investors insist on providing their own labour and the Tajik authorities are powerless to change this.



“This is stipulated by the agreements, so we can’t do anything about it,” he said.



The Tajik labour ministry has lobbied for a requirement that 70 per cent of any foreign company’s employees must be local people. However, Anvar Boboev, deputy director of the Agency for Social Protection and Migration, said the government is in no position to dictate terms to investors.



“We can determine quotas for foreign workers, but we can’t impose strict barriers as they do in Kazakstan or Russia, because those countries are [more] attractive,” said Boboev. “If we imposed barriers, we’d scare away investors.”



Political scientist Rashid Abdullo said he understands why Chinese companies want to employ their own workers, as it works out cheaper and more efficient for them. As investment flows increase, there will inevitably be more of these foreign workers, not least because there is not enough suitably qualified labour in Tajikistan.



Locals say animosity towards migrant workers is particularly high in areas of the country where unemployment is high – the southeastern area around Kulyab is a good example of this – and stems from a perception that the Chinese workers are “stealing” local jobs.



Zafar Mahmudov, a Dushanbe resident who works for an international organisation, said ethnic tensions often arise because locals look down on the incomers, thinking that “they depend on us, so we’re better than them”.



A sociologist with a Dushanbe-based research centre noted that migrant workers tend to congregate in the same area and are often at a loose end when the working day is done. Add to this the psychological strain of being away from home and family, she said, and these workers are liable to be easily provoked.



“I can only advise dispersing them in small groups, so that these conflicts are less in evidence,” she said. “Put a large number of men in one place with no leisure facilities and of course you’re going to have problems.”



Asliddin Dostiev is a correspondent for the Khatlon Press news agency in Kulyab. Ruhshona Najimiddinova is an independent journalist in Dushanbe.