Circular migration involves about 21% of the Moldovan migrants and 28% of those who are in EU member states have a precarious employment situation. This way, it is difficult to protect them in the context of the pandemic. The Moldovan migrants who work abroad without a contract are not protected during the pandemic and have no other way out than to find a legal job or to return home, Anna Gherganova, head of the Employment Policy and Migration Regulation Division of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection, stated in public debates staged by the Institute for European Policies and Reforms and the International Organization for Migration in cooperation with the Hanns Seidel Foundation in Moldova, IPN reports.
Anna Gherganova noted it is not the migrants’ blame that they have to work in illegal conditions, but the situation in which they found themselves shows once again that bilateral agreements need to be developed so as to promote legal migration and to protect the rights of the Moldovans abroad. This is possible where these instruments work, in such countries as Israel. Not many countries supported the persons who worked without a contract during the pandemic, like Ireland. In Poland, the persons who work legally also suffered. The Moldovan authorities aim to introduce mechanisms for controlling private employment agencies so as to protect the Moldovans who went abroad to work with their assistance.
However, as Anna Gherganova said, a difference should be made between the policies that should be promoted for the diaspora consisting of persons who most probably will not return home and the policies for circular migrants who leave the country and return on a regular basis.
Nadejda Zubco, deputy head of the Diaspora Relations Bureau, stated that circular migrants have been worst hit by the pandemic. In the period, namely they cannot use the resources provided by the Government and do not know what the host country offers. The Bureau aims to extend the area for informing these persons and to ensure their connection with Moldova’s consulate in the host country or with the public authority of Moldova. During the pandemic, the Bureau launched a new program for young people from the diaspora, within which they can propose ideas for implementing projects in Moldova, and also programs intended for the local public authorities. Now they intend to initiate the process of working out a new reintegration support document and hope that the draft document will be presented to the Government by this yearend.
Dorina Roșca, president of the European Institute for Development Studies of Paris, related that the Moldovan migrants who settled in France work based on “private solidarity”. They transmit money, information, parcels through more or less private networks and thus develop dynamics parallel with what is attempted to be made in the country for them. Respectively, this private solidarity should be connected to what is discussed and proposed for them at official level.
IOM Chief of Mission to Moldova Head Lars Johan Lonnback noted that ways should be found to deal with the problems faced by the Moldovan migrants, to reach out to the diaspora, to understand its needs and how the members of the diaspora can be involved in the development of the country.
