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Migration Issues
During the first years of its independence that was achieved in 1991, the Republic of Azerbaijan witnessed the emigration of a significant number of its nationals to foreign countries. Along with the difficulties related to the transition period, this emigration was particularly caused by the grave economic consequences of the aggression against and the occupation of the territories of Azerbaijan by neighboring Armenia, and the emergence of about one million refugees and IDPs. Later, following the development of transport network and due to its geographical situation Azerbaijan started to assume the role of a transit country. At present, as a result of the rapid socio-economic progress and the realization of important projects in the fields of energy, transport and in other sectors, Azerbaijan has being transformed to an attractive destination country for migrants.
Faced with the majority of the manifestations of migration processes that have multiple facets, the Republic of Azerbaijan has taken serious steps and carried out important measures both at legislative and institutional levels with a view to managing orderly and regulating these processes. The State Migration Management Policy Concept of the Republic of Azerbaijan, adopted in 2004, forms the basis of these actions and it defines the main objectives to be achieved by the relevant governmental bodies.
In order to realize the State Migration Management Policy Concept and reach the objectives defined in this Concept, "the State Migration Program for 2006-2008 of the Republic of Azerbaijan" was approved by the Presidential Decree No. 1575, dated 25 July 2006. The State Migration Program foresees the following main directions for actions:
- Improvement of management mechanisms in the field of migration;
- Increase of efficiency of the state regulation in the field of migration;
- Co-ordination of the activities of relevant state bodies in the field of migration;
- Improvement of the existing legislative basis;
- Introduction of quotas in the field of labor migration;
- Implementation of complex measures to prevent illegal migration;
- Co-operation with migration services of foreign countries and international organizations;
In general, the State Migration Program is aimed at creation of more appropriate system in the migration field.
Up to now more that 20 laws and normative acts dealing with migration-related issues, including, "Law on Immigration" and "Law on Labor Migration" have been adopted in the Republic of Azerbaijan. In respect to the protection of the migrants' rights and freedoms, it should be noted that the Republic of Azerbaijan is party to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. Azerbaijan has also acceded to the Palermo Protocols related respectively to trafficking in persons and to smuggling of migrants.
In respect to trafficking in human beings, which is considered as one of the manifestations of illegal migration, the National Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings in the Republic of Azerbaijan has been approved in 2004, and the Law on Fight against Trafficking in Human Beings has been adopted on 28 June 2005, which sets the necessary legislative basis to combat effectively this crime.
Besides that, with a view to facilitating migration processes and as well as preventing illegal migration, important steps designed to introduction of biometric identification have been recently taken in Azerbaijan. Thus, a task force comprising the representatives of the relevant governmental bodies has been set up and "the State Program on Biometric Identification in the Republic of Azerbaijan", which was drafted on the basis of the proposals prepared by the afore-mentioned task force, has been endorsed by the Presidential Decree No. 1963, dated 13 February 2007.
As for the migration management, separate governmental bodies are in charge of different aspects of migration in Azerbaijan. With a view to implementation of state migration policy, development of migration management system, regulation of migration processes and coordination of activities of relevant governmental bodies in this field, the State Migration Service has been set up by virtue of the Presidential Decree No. 560, dated 19 March 2007. It should be noted that by another Presidential Decree No. 254, dated 29 June 2005, it was decided to create Migration Service within the Ministry of Internal Affairs and this Service started to function from 16 May 2006.
In the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has mainly the following duties in the management of migration processes:
- to process the visa applications of foreigners through embassies and consulates of the Republic of Azerbaijan that numbered about 50 around the world;
- to provide consular services to Azerbaijani citizens abroad;
- to deal with questions related to the registration of Azerbaijani citizens who live in foreign countries;
- to promote and develop cooperation with international organizations and interested countries in the field of migration;
In the development of international cooperation concerning the migration-related issues, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is among the main partners of the Government of Azerbaijan. The Republic of Azerbaijan became member to IOM in 2001, but IOM had been implementing different assistance and technical projects in Azerbaijan already since 1996. At the same time, a number of technical assistance activities are implemented in cooperation with the Council of Europe and OSCE. In addition, the Action Plan that was agreed between the European Union and Azerbaijan within the European Neighborhood Policy on 14 November 2006 refers to a wide range of issues dealing with migration - border management, increase of effectiveness of border check points, migration management, asylum matters, prevention of illegal migration, readmission agreement, reintegration of migrants returned to the country of origin, visa and other issues, and it foresees the development of cooperation based on mutual interests. Moreover, a constant work is carried out for the development of the cooperation on the bilateral basis with a number of States in the field of migration.
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