DUSHANBE, February 1, 2013, Asia-Plus -- Tajik Migration Service chief Safiallo Devonayev says 74,000 Tajik citizens under 18 years of age are working in Russia as migrant laborers, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reports.

Devonayev told journalists in Dushanbe on January 31 that a special state commission had been established to prevent the emigration of Tajik children for seasonal work.

The chief of the Interior Ministry''s juvenile-detention center, Latif Zokirov, was also at the news conference.

He said the Tajik authorities forced dozens of teenagers, including girls, to return from Russia to Tajikistan in 2012.

Tens of thousands of Tajik, Kyrgyz, and Uzbek laborers travel to Russia each year to find jobs, mostly in the service and construction industries.

Many of them work in Russia illegally, which leaves them vulnerable to exploitation, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service said.