DUSHANBE, November 20, 2008, Asia-Plus  -- Republican conference formally titled “Women and Migration” was held at the Kokhi Vahdat State Complex in Dushanbe on November 19.  

Staged by the Committee for Family and Women’s Affairs, Public Foundation Panorama and NGO Perspectiva+ under financial support of the UNIFEM CO Tajikistan, the conference brought together representatives of the government institutions, NGOs, international organizations active in the country and experts in labor migration and gender problems to discuss problems facing women traveling to other countries in search of seasonal jobs.  

According to the Committee for Family and Women’s Affairs, women now constitute some 15 percent of Tajik migrant workers.

Speaking at the conference, the NGO Perspectiva+ chairperson, Ms. Oinihol Bobonazarova, underlined the importance of support of the government and international organizations for female labor migrants.  “There are mechanisms for tackling this problem; it is just necessary to adopt them,” Bobonazarova said.     

The conference recommended the government to include representatives of the Committee for Family and Women’s Affairs and experts in gender problems into the working group for improvement of the country’s labor migration legislation.    

The conference participants also pointed to the necessity of paying attention to problems facing families of labor migrants and creating mobile and dynamic system of vocational training for female migrant that would meet requirements of labor markets of receiving countries.  They also called for wider use of potentials of civil society and the Tajik diasporas in countries of residence for protection of rights of labor migrants and raising their awareness level.