18 December marks International Migrants’ Day, established by the UN General Assembly in honour of the adoption in 1990 of the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.

The rights of migrant workers — most of whom are citizens of Central Asian countries — are grossly violated by Russia, where millions of migrant workers still live and work: migrant families are pushed out of the country, with children being denied admission to schools; electronic surveillance of migrants’ lives and movements is carried out; intolerable conditions of life, police control, persecution and deportations are created.

The most terrible crime committed by Russia against the citizens of neighbouring countries is the waging of an aggressive war against Ukraine, participation in which citizens of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and other Central Asian republics are also often forced into. On 5 November of this year, a decree contradicting all norms of law was adopted, requiring men who lawfully qualify for Russian citizenship or a residence permit in the country to sign a contract for military service. Other migrants end up in the Russian army in an attempt to avoid arrest and imprisonment, and sometimes tempted by large payments, due to debts and the inability to earn a living through their previous ordinary work in Russia.

Participation in the war is a crime (including under the laws of migrants’ countries of citizenship), and the involvement of foreign citizens in an aggressive war is a war crime of the Russian Federation.

Migrants who agreed to take part in military actions in Ukraine admit that they made a terrible mistake — those who were taken prisoner were lucky; others are killed or become disabled. This is described in the short film by the ADC Memorial and Bir Duino Kyrgyzstan.