Victims of Administrative Ecstasy <\/strong><\/p>
Many experts, including those of international level, believe that properly established and organized population migration is a benefit for society. Especially if the society is "exsanguinated" by demographic problems. For example, the prevalence of an aging population (non-reproductive age), a decline in birth rates, and also the problem of employment in menial jobs – cleaning, washing, scrubbing, etc. All of this, it is believed, can be solved by an infusion of "new blood" – migrants. But on one condition: the authorities of the host country must clearly and distinctly understand why they need migrants and how many they can accept, ensuring a smooth integration into society for both sides, so that this potential benefit does not turn into a nightmare for both the country's residents and the migrants themselves.<\/p>
According to many specialists, for Russia with its demographic problems (population is catastrophically declining, birth rates are falling), as well as problems of populating vast territories (beyond the Urals, for example) and labor shortages, migration is almost the main lifeline. The importance of "fresh" blood for Russia's transitional period has been recognized by everyone – from the president and deputies to the refugees and forced migrants themselves. But for nearly two decades, the Russian authorities either could not or did not learn to use this tool for the good of the country or for the good of the compatriots who believed in its promises.<\/p>
Although there are many examples of a competent systemic approach to migration in the world. Quite recently, the "Integration Summit" was held in Berlin, where a national action plan was presented to facilitate the integration of people from other countries into German society. (According to official data, about 15 million foreigners live in Germany, including more than 2.5 million Turks, whose integration into society without harming society and its foundations is the biggest headache for the German authorities.)<\/p>
This "Integration Forum" was attended by (besides 90 public organizations of the migrants themselves) ministers, trade union leaders, businessmen, as well as personally(!) the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel. This, of course, immediately gave the problem an increased level of attention. The national plan includes 400 state commitments to migrants. Among them: special vocational education programs, teaching German to the children of foreigners, organizing special after-school groups in schools, creating a wider network of integration courses, creating conditions for greater demand for migrants in the labor market. Such forums on integration migration policy, as it turned out, are held annually in Germany. Russia has not even dreamed of this yet.<\/p>
Although, in fairness, it must be noted that there are other examples in Europe. For instance, the riots in the Paris suburbs point to the mistakes of the French in the policy of receiving citizens from other countries, their adaptation to local laws and traditions, and integration into French society.<\/p>
In Russia, over the past 15 years, little has changed for the better for migrants, although President Boris Yeltsin, during his first election campaign, while diligently touring cities and villages, solemnly assured: "Russia will accept everyone who wants to return – there will be enough space for everyone..." and that, for example, agriculture alone requires so many hands! Although Russians were fleeing mainly from large cities of the CIS, where they had been sent by the party and government to the front lines, mostly technical, and were top-notch specialists.<\/p>
Tired of fighting with the authorities for the right to obtain citizenship and a decent life, migrants at the congress of the "Forum of Resettlement Organizations" of Russia in 1998 unanimously expressed no confidence in the then head of the Federal Migration Service, Tatyana Regent, adopting a special resolution. "In an appeal to the government," emphasizes the permanent head of the "Forum", well-known journalist and public figure Lidia Grafova, "the congress asked to remove Tatyana Regent 'for gross violation of rights and humiliation of the human dignity of forced migrants.' This appeal was soon supported by the State Duma as well." It must be said that Regent's "overthrow" was greatly facilitated by numerous newspaper articles by Grafova herself, who over 15 years, with a group of equally ardent like-minded people – both among activists and migrants – did for thousands of refugees and forced migrants probably more than the state itself.<\/p>
But, alas, the "overthrow" of Tatyana Regent, who at that time seemed the main obstacle to turning illegal migration into legal, did little to help. The system remained the same – it cared little about refugees and migrants, even if they were compatriots, with their problems and troubles. True, in fairness, it must be said that at least regional migration services were created across the country. Moreover, an incredible personnel shake-up began in the agency itself: in just three years - from 1999 to 2001 - five heads changed in the FMS!<\/p>
The hopes of those returning to Russia were cruelly shattered by the administrative ecstasy of officials. In Russia, there was a complete collapse of all state structures dealing with migration. In 2000, the first government commission on migration policy was quietly buried. "The commission was liquidated in a sneaky way. Its members were not even told that the commission no longer existed," recalls participant Grafova. The second government commission, created at the demand of the All-Russian Emergency Congress for the Protection of Migrants, lasted a year and a half.<\/p>
Then it got worse. On June 20, 2001, exactly on UN's International Refugee Day, the Federal Migration Program was quietly eliminated. Without any explanation to the public. And following it, the FMS itself. But since refugees, despite the liquidation of all structures that "dealt" with them, strangely did not disappear, on this ashes a new ministry was created - for federation affairs, national and migration policy. But it too was soon successfully annulled.
The latest restructuring of Russia's migration policy shocked millions of people who have anything to do with it: all functions of the migration service were transferred to... the Ministry of Internal Affairs. However, there would be nothing surprising about this if it happened, for example, in Germany. In many countries around the world, migrant flows are regulated precisely by the police department. But there it is a fundamentally different structure, first of all, in spirit. Here, the people have long expected nothing good from the police, and most often simply shy away from it. One can imagine the shock experienced by people exhausted by hardships, especially those who have long been wandering across Russia, often with entire families, having lost their last hope of legalizing and living like everyone else.
But the situation with migration affairs, even under the roof of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, continued to worsen. And it seemed that the Kremlin had finally matured to decisively intervene and restore order in the migrant 'yard'. Experts agreed with the authorities that new laws 'On Citizenship of the Russian Federation' and 'On the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in the RF' should be developed and adopted. The then deputy head of the presidential administration, Viktor Ivanov, was appointed to lead the development of the new migration legislation.
'The migration problem,' says Lidiya Grafova in an interview, 'handed over to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, very soon reached such a dead end that the great patience of Russian migrants was exhausted.' The last push, according to her, that forced the Forum of Migrant Organizations to turn to Russian human rights activists with an appeal to help hold an All-Russian Emergency Congress in defense of migrants was the parliamentary hearings 'Migration in Russia: Problems and Contradictions' held on April 4, 2002, in the State Duma. Its main topic was the drafts of two new laws, which, according to human rights activists, were being born behind the Kremlin wall practically in secret.
According to Grafova, a participant in those events, 'the hearings began with a report by a man who effectively determines the entire migration policy of the state. He, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Viktor Ivanov (now an aide to the president), gave a report that raised many perplexing questions, and immediately left the parliamentary hearings. With him, the new head of the FMS of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Colonel-General Andrei Chernenko, hastily left. Perhaps it was just a coincidence, but the exit looked like a demonstration: the chairman announced the first speech from public organizations, and then both bosses stood up and left.' Note that since 2001, Viktor Ivanov had headed the interdepartmental working group on improving migration legislation.
How could such behavior by high-ranking officials be explained? After all, these were hearings at the legislative level, mind you, not in some embroidery circle. It turned out that our government had in mind not only refugees and forced migrants, but also the deputies themselves?
Such, to put it mildly, unsportsmanlike behavior by officials in power provoked a storm among refugees and migrants: it was immediately decided to urgently hold an All-Russian Emergency Congress in Defense of Migrants. This idea of the Forum of Migrant Organizations was supported by many famous and concerned people – scientists, politicians, deputies, as well as human rights organizations. Of course, the main support was from the State Duma Committee on Nationalities Affairs.
The All-Russian migrant 'emergency' took place in June 2002 in the Federation Council. About 500 people participated. There was a tough and engaged discussion about the fate of compatriots, the extreme bureaucratization of the migration process, and the appalling laws under which migrants in Russia, including Russians, find it easier to die than to live.
According to participants of the congress, some leaders of migrant organizations demanded that the president be invited to the forum so that he could personally hear them. It was even proposed to stage a civil disobedience action - block traffic on Novy Arbat until the president arrived at the congress.
'Putin, of course, did not come to us,' recalls Lidiya Grafova, 'but Viktor Petrovich Ivanov, who apparently did not intend to attend the congress, evidently feared the threat of blocking Arbat - he came and listened to migrants and human rights activists for over an hour. He was asked about 20 questions. Not a single sensible answer on the merits followed. The participants of the congress, shocked by the incompetence of the high official, nevertheless managed to maintain their composure. ...This was probably the first precedent of Viktor Ivanov's direct communication with the people. Viktor Petrovich looked quite confused.'
'Ivanov displayed complete and absolute ignorance of the problem, asserting at the parliamentary hearings one thing - that migration must be stopped, and finally declaring at our congress something completely different - that there is no illegal migration at all,' Svetlana Gannushkina, head of the legal network 'Migration and Law,' told journalists.
For the second time in the history of migrants' struggle for their rights in Russia, they used their last argument – the congress sent a resolution to the president demanding 'to remove V.P. Ivanov from 'improving' migration legislation.' But if in the times of Boris Yeltsin such an 'argument' against the then head of the FMS Tatyana Regent worked, then Viktor Petrovich Ivanov, despite obstruction from the public, continues to steer the process.
About the new round of struggle between the Kremlin and the public that advocated for migration laws with a human face, about the winners who plunged the country's migration processes into even greater chaos, and about the losers - Russian society - in the next issue.
Alla Yaroshinskaya.
IA Rosbalt