A two-day national seminar on safer labour migration has taken place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan's capital, under an EU-funded regional project.
The seminar, titled “Working with Labour Migrants: Theoretical and Practical Approaches for Safe Adaptation and Ethics-Based Recruitment”, was held under PROTECT — a project on improving migration management and migrant protection in selected Silk Routes and Central Asian countries — and is implemented by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD).
Participants included representatives of Uzbekistan’s Migration Agency under the Cabinet of Ministers, private employment agencies, international organisations, experts and migration practitioners, the European External Action Service informed on Monday.
Discussions focused on ethical recruitment standards and transparency, as well as practical co-operation to reduce risks linked to fraud, exploitation and irregular migration — which refers to migration that does not comply with the legal requirements of the country of origin, transit or destination.
“Migration is a cornerstone of EU-Uzbekistan cooperation, one that touches employment, skills, social protection, and regional stability. But at its heart, migration is about people: their safety, dignity, and right to make informed choices for their families,” EU Ambassador to Uzbekistan Toivo Klaar said.
Migrant Resource Centre support
The seminar also highlighted the work of the Migrant Resource Centre in Tashkent, which was established under the EU-funded PROTECT project, the EU Delegation to Uzbekistan said.
The centre works in close co-operation with Uzbekistan’s Migration Agency and provides counselling, outreach and referral support to people considering work abroad, as well as returning migrants and their families.
Alongside in-person counselling, it carries out outreach in universities, vocational training centres, mahallas — neighbourhood-level community areas — and migrant-sending regions across Uzbekistan.
The centre also works with labour attachés, diplomatic missions, NGOs and private employment agencies to improve access to reliable migration information and strengthen protection for migrants.
