2.1 Russia's Legal Obligations and Migration Policy

Russia has ratified numerous international human rights treaties that place positive obligations on it to protect the rights of individuals against abuses, including torture and ill-treatment, trafficking in persons, and forced labor, committed both by private and state persons or entities. Russia also has the obligation to implement basic labor protections of persons in employment and to eliminate racial discrimination. [34] It is obligated to take appropriate measures to prevent, punish, investigate, and redress the harm caused to individuals' rights and provide effective remedies to those so harmed. [35] The vast majority of the rights defined in these treaties apply to migrant workers just as much as they do to any other person within Russia. The specific international and domestic legal provisions relevant to the abuses documented in this report are described in detail in the relevant sections of Part 3: Abuse and Exploitation of Migrant Construction Workers in Russia. This section of the report focuses specifically on migration law and policy and their impact on migrant workers' rights. 

Governments have the right to develop laws and policies to regulate migration, including migration for work. A key issue for Russia's legal regulation and policy on migration–and its implementation–is the extent to which it is consistent with Russia's obligations under international human rights law. Russia has the obligation to protect the fundamental rights of every individual, including migrant workers irrespective of their migration status. In addition, to enhance protection of migrant workers, migration policy should not create excessive obstacles for migrant workers to stay and work legally. Migrants with irregular status are more vulnerable to abuses and less willing to seek assistance from government agencies out of real fears that approaching any official person or body will result in a fine or expulsion.

Russia has revised its migration laws in recent years to make it easier for workers who do not need a visa to enter Russia to legalize their stay and employment, by simplifying the procedures for obtaining obligatory residency registration and work permits. With a valid residency registration and work permit, migrant workers have all the documentation necessary to obtain a legal employment contract. Possession of a legal employment contract is the only means by which migrant workers' employment and long-term stay remain regular. If irregular, migrant workers are at risk of fines and expulsion from Russia and may be more likely targets of police abuse. They also have limited access to official mechanisms of redress.

Although under the simplified procedures more migrants are regularizing their stay and work in Russia, not all migrant workers are able to do so easily due to remaining legal and procedural obstacles, such as: a short, three-day period for obtaining mandatory residency registration; significant delays in issuing work permits; early expiration of quotas for work permits; and other bureaucratic obstacles. In some cases migrant workers fail to obtain residency registration or obtain work permits due to a lack of understanding or knowledge of the procedures, or a lack of funds.

In order to ensure that migrant workers are not rendered into particularly vulnerable situations of irregular status and hindered in their ability to access official complaint mechanisms, the Russian government should remove remaining obstacles for migrant workers to quickly and easily regularize their stay in Russia, as detailed in the recommendations in this report. The Russian government should in any case investigate migrant workers' complaints of abuse irrespective of migrant workers' migration status.