Due to its economic and cultural conditions, Moldova participates mainly in migration exchanges with the CIS region (mainly with Russia) and with South-ern Europe. Because of low standards of living, Moldova is not attractive to labour or transit migrants. On the other hand, one part of the Ukrainian smug-gling route for migrants passes right through Moldova. This trend may accele-rate due to the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the European Union.
The main feature of Moldova’s migration situation is the mass labour emi-gration of its citizens, to the extent of around 600,000 people.
One of the main internal problems, which Moldova must confront, is the se-paratist movement in Transnistria. The existence of this quasi-state, which borders on Ukraine, prevents Moldova from fully controlling the migration flows passing through its territory. An important step towards regulating this problem was deployment of a European Union mission on the Ukrai-nian/Moldovan border (including the border line separating Ukraine from Transnistria) at the end of 2005, which supports the control over this section of the border, as well as the earlier takeover of control of the border with Transnistria by the Moldovan authorities.
PartIII. Country analyses 119
4.1. Migration movements
Since the beginning of its independence, Moldova has experienced an out-flow of its population abroad. In the first years after the collapse of the USSR, Moldovan emigrants mainly left to Russia. Over time, Turkey, the South Euro-pean countries, and more recently Germany, the United Kingdom, and Ireland have become increasingly popular. In the first part of the 1990s, ethnically motivated migration was dominant. In subsequent years, alongside the socio-economic breakdown in the state, labour migration started to dominate.
After the worst moment of the crisis in 1999, the Moldovan economy started to develop rather dynamically, but despite that, the number of people leaving abroad to work has continued to grow.
Moldova is not popular among immigrants. The annual immigration quotas allocated by the Moldovan government, on the principle that the number of immigrants arriving every year may not exceed 0.05% of the country’s total population, fulfils the needs of those foreigners who want to settle. In total, according to the official statistics, 18,905 citizens of foreign countries emi-grated to Moldova in the period 1992–2004, 7784 of whom did so within the definition of reunification of families, 8078 for educational purposes and 3043 for labour purposes102. According to the results of the 2004 national census, 77,000 migrants from Ukraine, 76,000 from Russia, nearly 7,000 from Kazakh-stan, nearly 4,000 from Belarus, 2,000 from Russia and over 12,000 emi-grants from other countries came to Moldova until 2004103.
The armed conflict in Transnistria and the political chaos connected therewith, together with the serious socio-economic crisis, has led to difficulties with efficient registration of migration flows in Moldova. For this reason Moldo-van statistics on migration, particularly from the 1990s, are rather poor.
4.1.1. Ethnic migration
Of the states along the route of ethnic migrations connected with the col-lapse of the USSR, Moldova was not considered attractive. Other factors also
102Data provided by the National Migration Office of the Republic of Moldova.
103Population of this part of Moldova, which is controlled by authorities in Chisinau, amounts to 3.4 million (statistics of the Moldovan national census), while Transnistria is inhabited by over 500,000 people.
PartIII. Country analyses120
contributed to that state of affairs, included the low standard of living, poor-ly developed industry and education and the threat of internal conflicts. Esti-mates show that around 252,000 people left from Moldova to other republics of the former USSR in the period 1990–1998, and around 195,400 people came from this area104. Also, a considerable part of the large Jewish diaspora emi-grated from Moldova. Due to ethnic and language connections, many Mol-dovans left for good to Romania, or received Romanian citizenship, while at the same time keeping their Moldovan citizenship105.
The National Migration Office has exact data only on people, who came to Moldova as repatriates or impatriates. People who wished to leave for good, were obliged to inform the appropriate offices in Moldova. However, this re-quirement is not always fulfilled. Repatriation is decreasing (from 8,005 people in 1994 to 1,816 people in 2004), as can be observed on all the CIS’ territory.
The vast majority of repatriates have come from Russia and Ukraine. In the period 1994–2002, almost 90% of repatriates came from these countries (out of the total number of 41,659 persons, 21,262 came from Russia and 15,730 from Ukraine). In the same period, people who declared Moldovan nationality predominated among those repatriates, numbering 22,039 people. There were 7,777 Ukrainians, 7,188 Russians, and 4,658 people of other nationalities.
It seems that repatriation has influenced the decrease of ethnic Moldovans in Ukraine, where according to the census of 2001 258,600 had been living (79.7%, in comparison with 1989)106. In Russia, the number of Moldovans has remained at a stable level: 173,000 in 1989 and 172,000 in 2002. People com-ing to Moldova as repatriates automatically receive a permanent residence card, and can count on more convenience in obtaining citizenship. However, the state is unable to provide financial assistance to them, which makes the decision to come back to Moldova definitely more difficult.
104Institute of Public Policy, Migration Policies in the Republic of Moldova, Chisinau 2004, page 21.
105The number of Moldovan citizens with Romanian passport amounted at least to 500,000 people.
106This phenomenon can also explain the change of national self-identification of people who considered themselves Moldovan into Romanians.
PartIII. Country analyses 121 4.1.2. Labour migration
Low living standards (Moldova is among the poorest countries in Europe) and unemployment force the Moldovan people to labour emigration en masse.
There are no precise statistics on the number of Moldovans working abroad, which is mainly connected with the illegal nature of the employment they undertake. Moreover, many Moldovans have dual citizenship, Moldovan and Romanian, and they use the latter when entering other countries. The Mol-dovan media estimate this figure at between 600,000 and 1 million people.
The authors of the UN report on the migration issues in Moldova also quote the figure of 600,000 people107. According to data from the Moldovan Depart-ment of Statistics and Sociology (which does not include Transnistria), there were around 294,000 people employed both legally and illegally outside the country in 2003 (Table 23). The legally employed people constituted a small percentage of this number, as only 6,678 people had obtained permit to work outside the country (mainly in Israel) in the period 1993–2003108. The national census from October 2004 shows that 273,000 people were temporarily resi-dent outside the borders of the country (excluding Transnistria).
Russia is the most popular country for Moldovan guest workers. This is caus-ed by many factors, such as tradition (Moldovans uscaus-ed to come and work here during the Soviet period), the lack of visas and any language barrier, and the absorbency of the Russian labour market. According to some estimates, only in the Moscow region there are over 200,000 Moldovans109. However, it seems that this number is only appropriate in the context of the entire Russian Fe-deration110. People who have little chance to succeed directly in the West,
107Migration Management Moldova, Assessment 2003, page 4.
108Yearbook statistics regarding migration fluxes in the Republic of Moldova, Year 2004; These statistics do not refer to the CIS area. There were 7,853 Moldovan citizens working in Russia on the basis of inter-state agreements in 2001.
109 New Borders In South Eastern Europe. The Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, Romania, 2002, page 118.
110According to estimated of V. Mukomel, currently 154,000 labour migrants from Moldova reside in the Russian Federation; demoscope.ru/weekly/2005/0207/tema04.php
Year
Number of persons
2000 138,000
2001 149,000
2002 234,000
2003 294,000 Table 23. Number of Moldovan citizens working outside their country
Source:Department of Statistics and Sociology of Moldova
PartIII. Country analyses122
and who are poorer and worse prepared from the professional perspective (mainly coming from rural areas), come to Russia. Many of them treat work in Russia as an intermediate stage before trying to get into the EU.
Apart from Russia, the South European countries are among the most popular destinations for Moldovan emigrants: Italy (where around 19% of all migrants work), Spain and Portugal, as well as Israel, Greece and Turkey. The latter is most popular among the Gagauz, a minority population of Moldova, closely related to the Turks.
The scale of labour migration is one of the most important indicators of the socio-economic situation of Moldova. Experts believe that every Moldovan guest worker is able to transfer at least US $1000 per year back to the country.
Considering the scale of the phenomenon, this adds up to a level comparable with 30% of the gross domestic product. According to data provided by the International Monetary Fund, in 2004 Moldovan citizens working abroad trans-ferred around US$ 700 million to the country. Labour emigration is also con-nected with many negative aspects, starting from the workforce drain from the Moldovan labour market (between 30 and 40% of professionally active Mol-dovans could be working outside the state borders), through the develop-ment of organised crime, all the way to the intensification of negative demo-graphic phenomena.
4.1.3. Moldova as a route for illegal migration
The geographic location of Moldova means it cannot be considered as a con-venient place on the illegal migration route from Asia to the European Union.
The Ukrainian borders, which directly adjoin the European Union, are easier to penetrate. The situation in this respect may deteriorate as Rumania, which borders Moldavia, has entered the UE. Moreover, another factor increasing the risk of illegal migration is the Moldovan government’s lack of control over part of its territory. Local experts believe that one of trafficking routes from the Ukraine goes through Transnistria, Moldova and then through Romania.
According to data provided by the Security and Information Service of the Republic of Moldova, in the period 1992–2002 over 15,000 people were arrest-ed and deportarrest-ed from this country on charges of attempting to cross to the West through the Romanian border111. However, definitely fewer people were
111New Borders In South Eastern Europe. The Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, Romania, 2002, page 118.
PartIII. Country analyses 123 arrested for direct attempt to cross the Romanian border. In 1997 there were
around 200 of such cases, in 1998 around 250 cases, and in 1999 around 290 cases. In 2001, when the officers of the Moldovan Border Guard took control over the section of the border with Ukraine, the number of persons arrested increased to 578112.
Tighter control of Moldova’s borders has resulted in an increase in the pro-fessionalism of the groups smuggling illegal immigrants. This process became particularly apparent as of 2001. In 2004, two immigrant transfer channels through Moldovan territory used by India’s citizens were broken up. Accord-ing to local experts, this contributed to a considerable decrease in the inten-sity of attempts to transfer illegal immigrants through Moldova.
Human trafficking, especially of young women, who are forced into prosti-tution by organised crime groups, is a separate problem connected with ille-gal labour migration. The scale of this phenomenon is difficult to estimate.
In the period from 2000 to May 2005, the International Organisation for Mi-gration helped 1,581 victims of trafficking, although (as experts admit) this is only the tip of the iceberg113. Women from Moldova were particularly fre-quently transferred to the territory of the former Yugoslavia; around 70% of the victims ‘worked’ in Macedonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Kosovo, where in brothels they provided service to UN soldiers, among others. Currently, the geography of this proceeding is changing; female citizens of Moldova are now more frequently smuggled into Turkey and Russia.
4.1.4. Refugees and internally displaced persons
Moldova was already coping with a refugee problem at the beginning of the 1990s. This concerned refugees from armed conflict in the Transnistria (around 51,000 internal refugees, and over 80,000 external ones, who mainly fled to Ukraine)114, victims of conflicts in the others areas of the former USSR (Armenia, Georgia) as well as outside its borders (Afghanistan). Most inter-nally displaced persons on Moldovan territory returned to their permanent places of residence. However, according to the Moldovan authorities, there are still around 25,000 internally displaced persons in the country, victims of
112Therein, page 124.
113IOM Chisinau Counter-trafficking Unit.
114Data provided by UNHCR.
PartIII. Country analyses124
the Transnistrian conflict115. The IOM does not include this group of people in its statistics.
In the 1990s, the UNHCR was responsible for the refugee procedure in Mol-dova; this function was taken over by the Moldovan authorities in 2002–2003.
The number of refugees or people with a similar status staying in the territo-ry of Moldova is relatively low. According to data provided by the High Com-missioner for Refugees, since the beginning of the UNHCR office’s operation in Chisinau (1997), 688 cases (951 people) were registered by 1 January 2003, of which refugee status was granted in 123 cases (266 persons). According to data as of the end of 2004 175 people with refugee status were found on Moldovan territory. Chechens constituted the largest single national group among them (32 people). Previously, the UNHCR had granted them refugee sta-tus, but now the Moldovan authorities restrict to granting Chechens humani-tarian status116. Syrians, Palestinians, Sudanese and Armenians are among other, more numerous national groups. Meanwhile, according to the statistics pre-sented by the UNHCR, by the end of 2005, in Moldova there were 84 refugees who received refugee status according to the Geneva Convention, and 148 peo-ple who were in the middle of the refugee procedure117.
For many reasons, Moldova is unattractive to potential refugees, even though it cannot be ruled out that the EU’s expansion to Romania and Bulgaria could influence the number of asylum seekers in Moldova, who will aim to enter the European Union area.
4.2. Migration policy
Moldova has fairly developed governmental structures for dealing with mi-gration issues, as well as certain state documents on these issues. This quali-ty change, which took place in this matter a couple of years ago, was undoub-tedly caused by the less ambiguous orientation of Moldovan foreign policy towards the EU, as well as the increasing significance of labour migration.
The effectiveness and professionalism of the responsible Moldovan offices may
115Status as per 2004.
116In February 2004 16 Chechens, who were denied the refugee status, announced the hunger protest.
117UNHCR 2005 Global Refugee Trends.
be questioned; however, this is a rather common incapacity of state struc-tures throughout the area of the former USSR. Many delays and negligence also result from insufficient funding. The main weakness of Moldovan policy is the lack of any effective system for registering migration flows.
4.2.1. Evolution
Moldova started to develop the legal and organisational bases for indepen-dent policy in the area of migration quite early. On 19 December 1990, the Law on Migration was passed, in accordance with which the Migration Depart-ment was established within the framework of the Ministry of Labour and Social Care (MLSC). In the following years, Moldova adopted some basic legal acts regulating the sphere of migration, including the Law on Citizenship (1991), on Entrance and Exit (1994) and on the Legal status of Foreigners and Stateless Persons (1994).
The increasing labour migration of the population forced the Moldovan autho-rities to develop a comprehensive migration management system. In 2001, the State Migration Service was established (which has expanded its compe-tences and changed its name twice since then; it currently operates as the Na-tional Migration Office). In the same year, the NaNa-tional Committee for the Fight against Human Trafficking was established. In 2002, the Moldovan govern-ment ratified the Geneva Convention and initiated the developgovern-ment of the re-fugee protection system (by appointing a unit responsible for rere-fugee proce-dures, and constructing the first centre for refugees). Two main documents in the area of migration were developed in the same year: in November a con-cept of migration policy, and in December the new Law on Migration.
The migration policy concept defined the principles, tasks and priorities of the state migration policy. The following were considered as the basic tasks of this policy: adapting law in the field of migration to global standards; develop-ing cooperation with international organisations; improvdevelop-ing the coordination and efficiency of migration policy implementation, developing a new govern-mental centre coordinating that policy; signing agreements with states where citizens of the Republic of Moldova work, so that their rights are respected and they receive better conditions; developing setting for reintegrating immi-grants and repatriates; and developing a database registering migration movements.
PartIII. Country analyses 125
PartIII. Country analyses126
Part of the priorities outlined in the concept have been implemented. The Mi-gration Department, a new organ which was responsible for implementing state policy in the area of migration, was established in August 2003. Legal bases for a national system of asylum and refugee were developed. Actions aiming at legalising the status of Moldovan labour migrants were taken, and a system for monitoring companies sending people to work aboard was estab-lished as well. Also, efforts to combat illegal migration and the trafficking in women were initiated; in November 2001, the National Committee for the Fight against Human Trafficking was established. Most problems are caused by im-plementing these tasks, which are connected with extensive financial outlays, such as developing efficient database of migration flows. Furthermore, a sys-tem for the efficient detention and identification of illegal migrants is lack-ing, which makes it difficult and sometimes even impossible to deport them.
4.2.2. Structures
The National Migration Office (NMO), which was established in mid-2005 by renaming the Migration Department, is the main organ responsible for migra-tion and asylum. The following are among the office’s main tasks:
– ensuring the state implements a consistent migration policy;
– harmonising national legislation in the area of migration with internatio-nal legislation;
– developing databases on all categories of immigrants;
– preparing governmental documents on migration issues;
– forecasting and managing migration streams;
– supervising the system for registration of the entry and exit of foreigners, with the participation of the competent organs.
The Moldovan National Migration Office deals with all migration issues, while the other state offices concentrate on selected issues, particularly these re-ferring to security. In this context, the Information and Security Service, the Border Service and the Ministry of Interior can be listed.
The Illegal Migration Department operates as part of the Ministry of Interior.
It deals with crimes and administrative offences committed by foreigners and on foreigners, monitors the legality of their residence in Moldova and organi-ses deportations.
The Ministry of Information Development (MID) plays a specific role in Mol-dova’s migration policy; since 2001, as an independent office, the MID has
PartIII. Country analyses 127 issued documents essential for legalising foreigners’ residence, and also
con-ducts the central register of population.
4.2.3. International cooperation
Moldova actively participates in international undertakings concerning mi-gration issues, which is conditioned by its status of a country which sends migrants and is dependent on remittances from its citizens who work abroad, as well as its efforts to obtain external support in developing a migration management system. As in the case of other states in the area discussed, the two main directions of Chisinau’s external activities are Russia and the CIS area, and the EU and its member states.
Moldovan policy towards Russia has an ambivalent nature; on one hand Chi-sinau aims to maintain proper relations with Russia, which allow guest work-ers to work freely in Russia, and on the other hand to abolish the de facto in-dependence of Transnistria as soon as possible, which contradicts Russian plans for this territory. The issue of labour migrants constitutes an important potential pressure instrument on Moldova; in February 2005, prior to break-through parliamentary elections in Moldova, the Russian Duma threatened to impose a visa obligation upon its citizens. In 1993, Moldova concluded an agreement with Russian on labour migration; however, its workers usually work in Russia illegally. Moldova has concluded similar agreements with Ukraine and Belarus. In addition, Chisinau is a signatory of the most impor-tant CIS’ agreements on cooperation in border and migration issues.
Together with the reorientation of Moldova’s foreign policy and increasing the role of the EU member states in the process of the Moldovan workforce’s emigration, the importance of the European direction has considerably in-creased in Moldovan migration policy. Within the framework of the ENP, on 22 February 2005 Moldova and the European Union signed an Action Plan which included migration issues. The EU committed itself to provide Mol-dova with consultancy and financial aid in order to develop a more effective migration management system. Meanwhile, Chisinau declared that its prio-rities will include the development of an electronic database to monitor mi-gration flows from and to Moldova, the adoption of a National Action Plan in the area of migration and asylum, and adaptation of its legislation to the international standards. Moldova is participating in the EU assistance pro-grammes in the areas of migration and border protection. Since December 2005, a special European Union mission has been operating on the