Lecture Theme: Introduction to the course. Plan

MIGRATION.

Emigration to other former USSR republics exceeded immigration by 328,200 during 1979–90. In 1991, an estimated 400,000 Russians departed from Uzbekistan. As of 1996, 250,000 Crimean Tatars had left Central Asia for the Ukraine; most of these Tatars were from Uzbekistan. In 1999, there were an estimated 30,000 Tajik refugees and 8,000 Afghan refugees living in Uzbekistan; however, only 1,135 refugees and asylum seekers were registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Until 1999, refugees and asylum seekers were assigned no special status and were considered ordinary foreigners. However, in 1999 the government completed a draft of the Migration Law, which passed the Cabinet of Ministers. In 2000 there were 1,367,000 migrants living in Uzbekistan, including the remaining refugees. In 2004 there were 44,455 refugees, mainly from Tajikistan and Afghanistan, and 477 asylum seekers. In that same year, some 450 Uzbekistani sought asylum in Sweden and the United States. In 2005, the net migration rate was estimated as -1.16 migrants per 1,000 population The government views the emigration level as too high, but the immigration level as satisfactory.