Newsroom
Chisinau meeting aims at regulating increased flow of migrant workers through Eastern Europe
CHISINAU 27 September 2004
CHISINAU, 27 September 2004 - Representatives of Belarus, Moldova, the Russian Federation and Ukraine meet in Chisinau today to address regional questions on the increasing flow of migrant workers across borders, including safeguarding migrants' rights while managing irregular migration.
The two-day meeting and workshop, jointly organized by the OSCE's Warsaw-based Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), will focus on the challenges Moldova and neighbouring countries face as an increasing number of migrants seek job opportunities abroad.
The aim of the workshop is to foster cross-border co-operation between countries of the region on the regulation of labour migration and collection and sharing of migration-related data on a national and regional level.
"We hope that this workshop will contribute towards the creation of practical inter-state mechanisms to ensure the effective use of labour force and protection of migrant workers," said Robert Adams, Deputy Head of the ODIHR Democratization Section. "This would also promote tolerance and the elimination of discrimination against migrants."
Allan Freedman, Chief of the IOM Mission in Moldova said: "Sound migration policy is built on the best possible information about our labour flows in the region. This meeting is about taking an important step towards fully addressing the needs and problems of the regions' migrant workers."
The invitees to the workshop include policy-makers responsible for the development of labour migration policies as well as experts from the International Labour Organization, the State University of Moldova, Moscow State University's Centre for Demographic Studies, the Danish Immigration Service, OSCE/ODIHR and IOM.
"This is the first workshop on labour migration policy and data management in Chisinau and the large number of participants shows the interest of Moldova's neighbouring -countries in finding ways to settle this problem," said Olga Poalelungh, General Director of the Migration Department in Moldova.
"We believe this meeting will better facilitate regional co-operation and lead to better management of labour migration data."
The two-day meeting and workshop, jointly organized by the OSCE's Warsaw-based Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), will focus on the challenges Moldova and neighbouring countries face as an increasing number of migrants seek job opportunities abroad.
The aim of the workshop is to foster cross-border co-operation between countries of the region on the regulation of labour migration and collection and sharing of migration-related data on a national and regional level.
"We hope that this workshop will contribute towards the creation of practical inter-state mechanisms to ensure the effective use of labour force and protection of migrant workers," said Robert Adams, Deputy Head of the ODIHR Democratization Section. "This would also promote tolerance and the elimination of discrimination against migrants."
Allan Freedman, Chief of the IOM Mission in Moldova said: "Sound migration policy is built on the best possible information about our labour flows in the region. This meeting is about taking an important step towards fully addressing the needs and problems of the regions' migrant workers."
The invitees to the workshop include policy-makers responsible for the development of labour migration policies as well as experts from the International Labour Organization, the State University of Moldova, Moscow State University's Centre for Demographic Studies, the Danish Immigration Service, OSCE/ODIHR and IOM.
"This is the first workshop on labour migration policy and data management in Chisinau and the large number of participants shows the interest of Moldova's neighbouring -countries in finding ways to settle this problem," said Olga Poalelungh, General Director of the Migration Department in Moldova.
"We believe this meeting will better facilitate regional co-operation and lead to better management of labour migration data."