Migration remains topical problem
By Nigar Orujova
Regulation of migration processes has become one of the most pressing problems nowadays, Minister of Labor and Social Protection Salim Muslimov believes.
Currently each 35th resident of the Earth is an international migrant, making up three percent of the world’s population, he said at an event dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the International Convention “On Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families” by the UN Committee on the Rights of Migrant Workers.
Moreover, social and economic processes ongoing in the world only accelerate the development of migration.
In Azerbaijan, migration has begun to develop in the 1990s, he noted.
Occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijani lands has led to the loss of more than 300,000 jobs for the country's population and increase of migration.
Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that broke out a brutal war in the early 1990s.
The number of refugees and IDPs from the Armenian-occupied Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions of Azerbaijan exceeds one million. Given its 9.7 million population, Azerbaijan has one of the largest per capita IDP and refugees burden in the world.
The minister noted that the Azerbaijan's migration policy was aimed at creating favorable conditions for life and work of migrant workers, and protection of their rights.
“In 2014, 12,000 foreigners were issued a work license in Azerbaijan, which is by 6.6 times more compared to 2003,” he said.
He added that tolerant environment and traditions of multiculturalism existing in Azerbaijan is one of the reasons that stimulate the flow of migrants into the country.
Migration has become an integral part of the socio-economic and political processes taking place in the world, Muslimov noted.
“Migration is a dynamic process and its form, characteristics and trends are always changing, posing new challenges. Their solution is possible only through cooperation,” he stressed.
The minister added that Azerbaijan fully collaborates with international organizations, interested countries, civil society in the field of protection of labor workers and addressing migration issues.
30,000 foreigners pay social insurance fees
Azerbaijan can serve as an example for other countries in the sphere of social protection of migrants, said chairman of the State Social Protection Fund Elman Mehdiyev.
The system of social protection in Azerbaijan is based on the principles accepted in the international practice, he added.
“Azerbaijan is implementing the practice of social insurance of foreigners working in the country since 2006. At present, almost 30,000 foreigners, who represent 115 countries, are registered in the individual registration system of the Fund,” said Mehdiyev.