The Limitations of Access to Basic Services and Rights

5.2.4 The Limitations of Access to Basic Services and Rights

Internal migrants without registration in Osh experience numerous limitations in their access to basic services and their practising of rights. Affecting the access to basic services, they most frequently referred to difficulties in access to medical services. The access to school was often a problem as well. The access to social benefits is a complex issue where difficulties occur both in Osh and in the villages. Further there were difficulties in bank issues like picking up remittances or taking a loan. Considering the restricted rights through the absence of town registration, the most pressing concern seemed to be the missing possibility to apply for land in Osh. Also complaints about the missing chance to participate in the elections were mentioned quite prevalently. Some migrants also mentioned the difficulties in attending documents like birth or marriage certificates. The organizations which are dealing with registration challenges confirmed the prevalence of these difficulties.

5.2.4.1 Access to School and Kindergarten

Most interviewed migrants (39) experienced the necessity of city registration for getting access to school and kindergarten for their kids. Migrants who are holding a city registration had to show their registration for this purpose and migrants without city registration often experienced difficulties to send their children to school or kindergarten without Propiska. While a few of the interviewees didn’t manage at all to send their children to school without Propiska – in one case the child was even sent to school in the origin village – most respondents manage to place them in school or kindergarten with a spravka of the Domkom, and maybe some additional documents, e.g.:

“There are some documents to enter school with photos and personal information, and the spravka from the territorial soviet.” (Aisulu, Osh 2013)

Occasionally the spravka from the Domkom (= territorial soviet) was not enough for the permission to send the children to school, they were also asked to give a bribe. Bribery is highly occurring in kindergartens. Numerous interviewees acknowledged this. However this bribe is not only asked from people without town registration. The researcher knew form her assistant who has a town registration and 3 children, that usually parents pay about 2500 Som to place their children in kindergarten. Some interviewees approved this, e.g. this woman when she was asked about the payment:

“2р00 Som, and I gave 2 children, so I paid р000 for kindergarten.” (Cholpon, Osh 2013)

What was interesting is that despite of the unofficial character of this payment, the ass istant didn’t consider it as a bribe, and her impression during the interviews was that most people also don’t consider it as a bribe. According to her, it is a necessary payment in order to enable the kindergarten to buy all the equipment. This unofficial entry fee has to be paid in any case, independent of the fact if a person is registered in Osh or not. Thus the access to kindergarten seems more to depend on that payment as on the place of registration, the registration isn’t the crucial document needed for getting access .

Access to university was never reported as a problem, no city registration was required here. However, most students typically reside in a state owned dormitory of the university during their studies. The university usually suggest them to register temporally in their dormitory, in order to

be eligible to participate in the elections. One interviewee even explained that it is mandatory for students to elect, thus they have to be registered at least temporally.

5.2.4.2 Access to Medical Services

Medical service is a collective term which in this study encompasses policlinics and the hospitals. The policlinics are places where people visit the doctor. People can’t choose which policlinic they visit, they are organized territorially. Every policlinic is responsible to serve one specific territorial unit. You have to live in that certain territory to be eligible to get a treatment in the policlinic. If

somebody is eligible to go to a certain policlinic, he or she will be registered in their list. There are three hospitals in Osh, the city hospital, the oblast hospital and the oblast hospital for pregnant women. The city hospital is only for inhabitants of the city and an oblast hospital should serve the whole oblast. Further there are private hospitals. Generally the medical treatment is for free if you have the health security number OMS, nevertheless some medicaments have to be paid by themselves. Private hospital are much more expensive than the state ones, they are not an affordable alternative for people with limited access to the state hospitals.

The interviewed migrants considered the access to medical services as challenging. Only very few interviewees stated that there were no problems at all in getting access to medical services without

a registration in Osh. However, there were big differences between the access to hospital and to policlinics, while the latter seemed to be much less challenging.

Access to Policlinics

Most interviewed migrants could get access to policlinics with the help of the spravka of the territorial soviet which proves that they physically live in a certain address. Sometimes the responsible person in the policlinic first asked about the registration, and when the migrant explained that he doesn’t have a registration in Osh, they asked about the spravka of the territorial soviet. Sometimes they didn’t ask about their registration at all, they just wanted to see the spravka:

“When I go to the policlinic I go with the help of spravka which I got from territorial soviet .” (Djamila, Osh 2013д”

“There is a special policlinics where I live. They serve because we live there, and they never asked about propiska. When you are ill they come to your house and treat you. Without asking for propisa.” (Asel, Osh 2013)

“Policlinics with the kids is fine, because Domkom is aware that we are tenants, and the access for kids for health care is no problem” (Altynai, Osh 201од”

According to the interviewed migrants, there were also cases where the responsible people in the policlinics just knew who physically lives in the definite area and didn’t even asked about the spravka of the Domkom:

“As for policlinics, I am at one of the policlinics near here, even without propiska. […] The policlinic is over there, and the nurses of the policlinic monitor around and make a list of people living in the houses, physically we live here and have an access to medical care.” (Svetlana, Osh 201о)

Many interviewed women told the researcher about their experiences when they were pregnant. In all the reported cases they were able to find a policlinic for the treatment. Even if there was no registration in Osh, they didn’t have to pay for the treatment if they had the medical security number OMS. That means that whether a treatment is free or not probably more depends on the existence of the OMS than on the registration. The absent of a town registration doesn’t seem to limit someones rights which (s)he enjoys through OMS.

The statements of the interviewed migrants give the impression that the existence of a registration in Osh doesn’t play a decisive role for the access to policlinics, and the list of the people who are eligible to get a treatment are more based on the spravka of the territorial unit than on the address of registration.

Despite the fact that getting access to policlinics doesn’t sound as challenging without registration in Osh, there are some migrants who always travel back to their place of origin for medical treatments.

“We go back to the village for hospital and policlinics” (Jazgul, Osh 2013) “When I need a treatment or whatever, I go to the village, in Alai.” (Danyiar, Osh

2013) None of the migrants reported any problems with the access to medical treatment in villages

because of the fact that they – even their registration is there – don’t live there anymore.

I: “ If I would go to the doctor here, maybe they would ask about propiska. […] I have been in some policlinics in my village. They just prescribe some medicine and I came back and pick it up here.” R: “Did you have to show the passport in the policlinic there?”

I: “No, I didn’t show, I just told them that I live in that territory, in that address.” (Aijamal, Osh 2013)

In the statement above, it becomes clear that the reason why she goes to the village for medical treatment is that s he’s scared to face problems if she tries to visit a doctor in Osh without a registration . Out of that reason, she doesn’t even try get access to medical treatment in Osh. However, the data of that study don’t provide enough insight to assess if the reasons for avoiding medical treatment in Osh is always connected to the challenges due to the absence of a registration in Osh, or if there are other reasons, e.g. that they are used to it always to visit the same doctor. Regarding the fact that the distance to the origin villages of many migrants isn’t that big, other reasons for the travel to the village for medical treatment are supposable.

Interviewed migrants with a temporal registration – mainly students who are registered in dormitories – didn’t report any difficulties in getting access to hospitals. They were accepted with their temporal registration. They also had to show their student card in order to get free medical treatment for students:

“I showed my temporal propiska, and then everything was free in the hospital, because I was a student” (Aynura, Osh 201о)

“I showed my passport and my student card” (Bakyt, Osh 201о)

Access to Hospitals

In comparison to the policlinics, the situation for the access to hospitals seems to be much more challenging. Most interviewed migrants experienced problems in getting access to a hospital.

3 interviewees said that there were no problems at all to get access to hospital without propiska. One of them just showed the spravka of the territorial soviet and was accepted. Another one just said that there were no problems to be accepted in the oblast hospital, he didn’t comment how he did it exactly . The third one said that they just explained that they are temporally here that’s why they don’t have a registration in Osh, and they get access, but rather they are in Osh since 3 years and plan to stay if there are economic opportunities. One migrated woman explained that she can get access to the oblast hospital, because she’s from oblast of Osh. She thinks that in the city hospital, they would ask for a registration in Osh, but in the oblast hospital, according to her, no registration of Osh is required, because they serve the whole oblast. But there were also other experiences. The vast majority of the interviewed migrants is registered in the villages in Osh oblast, but except of these mentioned cases, all the interviewed migrants faced problems in getting access to any hospital in Osh, either the oblast one. In the following quote it becomes clear that even people who live in the oblast and thus would be eligible to receive medical treatment in the oblast hospital face problems with access to it:

“When I wanted to enter the hospital there was a problem. They didn’t allow me to stay there because I had no propiska. […] It was very challenging for me. I didn’t have city propiska but I went to the city hospital, they said no go to the oblast hospital, oblast hospital was telling: No, not us. You live in the city, so go to the city hospital. I was sick but I was sent between to ho spitals. […] I was pleading and giving a bribe and I was accepted at the oblast hospital. It is very difficult when you don’t have money to bribe, they will see and they know that you are disabled, so they will in “When I wanted to enter the hospital there was a problem. They didn’t allow me to stay there because I had no propiska. […] It was very challenging for me. I didn’t have city propiska but I went to the city hospital, they said no go to the oblast hospital, oblast hospital was telling: No, not us. You live in the city, so go to the city hospital. I was sick but I was sent between to ho spitals. […] I was pleading and giving a bribe and I was accepted at the oblast hospital. It is very difficult when you don’t have money to bribe, they will see and they know that you are disabled, so they will in

So the woman can’t use her registration of the village to legitimate her access to the oblast hospital, because she doesn’t physically live there. Out of that reason they sent her from there to the city hospital, where she would need a registration from the city to receive medical treatment. The problems due to the fact that someone isn’t physically living in the village of registration were encountered again in the access to social benefits (compare 5.2.4.5).

In the quote above, a new topic is raised in connection to access to medical services: Bribery. Apparently, the fact of missing registration in Osh is used as a possibility to ask for additional money in order to get access to hospital. However, in total only 5 interviewees committed that they have paid a bribe in order to get access to hospitals. The real number of cases of bribery might be higher, considering that, according to the impression to the researcher and her assistant, most people don’t like to talk openly about their habits to bribe (compare 5.3.3.2).

There is a question arising now why the experiences of the interviewed migrants are differing, why some of them face bigger problems than others. Of course it could be possible that some of the interviewees who said that there weren’t problems didn’t tell everything; possibly they paid bribes for solving their problems but didn’t tell about that in the interview. But if we assume that the interviewed migrants answered honestly, it can be presumed that the handling of this issue is quite arbitrary, it may depend on the person who is serving and possibly also on the appearance of the patient, as the woman above mentioned: If they see that the patient is in need and would be willing to pay a bribe, they challenge the person in order to get the bribe.

5.2.4.3 The Exclusion of Internal Migrants from Elections

The absence of a registration in Osh also limits the privilege to participate in elections. Indeed in 2011 the government established a possibility for people without a registration in their place of residence to elect in that place, by means of an additional list where people without registration could sign in. Nevertheless only two interviewed migrants elected through that list without any problems, for example this woman:

“We are enrolled in the additional list, one month before election period we put our names into additional list and we are fine with it.” (Altynai, Osh 201о)

There were different reasons why only that few people elected through that additional list. Only a few interviewed migrants didn’t even know about the possibility to elect through that list. Some interviewees tried to go to th e election and sign into that additional list, but they didn’t succeed:

“Yes, we know about that, but sometimes we are allowed and sometimes we are not. I think the system of voting is not elaborated properly and does not work properly in Kyrgyzstan. Sometimes before voting process a person comes and makes a list of “Yes, we know about that, but sometimes we are allowed and sometimes we are not. I think the system of voting is not elaborated properly and does not work properly in Kyrgyzstan. Sometimes before voting process a person comes and makes a list of

“We were put in that additional list. But we were not allowed to vote even at the pervious election in November 2012.” (Chinara, Osh 201о)

It seems that the implementation of that new law adoption didn’t work out in Osh yet. A few people manage to vote through that list, and many others don’t. These migrants who weren’t able or didn’t even try to elect in Osh went back to their villages for the elections. Sometimes migrants from the same villages even organized themselves in groups to go back to the village on the day of election.

Generally the researcher had the impression that the interest to elect was quite high. It was rare that the respondents weren’t interested in election at all, and it seems to be a pressing issue that missing registration in Osh limits their right to elect. For one interviewee, that limitation even was the cause for thinking about the necessity of registration:

“But after these elections [200с] we really faced, it is also like a problem, first I wanted to elect but I couldn’t elect because of my propiska.” (Nilufar, Osh 2013)

The woman who said that was a student when she came to Osh. Possibly it is also due to the influence of the universities that students are interested in elections, since they suggest their students to register temporally in order to be eligible to vote. But nevertheless, the interviewed labour migrants typically seemed to be interested in participation in the elections as well.

During the interview with Advocacy Centre and through informal talks with a woman from Bishkek working in Osh, the researcher also heard about the problems occurring with the additional voting list for people without registration. There are cases where these additional lists are abused to elect more than one time. The researcher was told about cases where people cheated through voting under another name and therefore voting two times in that way: one time in the place of residence and another time in the place where they are registered. It even happened that one person was recorded in the additional list at five different places during one election. In addition, one interviewed migrant told that when he worked for the election office in Osh during his studies, he also elected there as well as in his place of origin. The reason why these problems occur is the absence of a gener al database for voters, so it isn’t possible to compare the lists from different places. Possibly this is one reason why the implementation of that additional list doesn’t always work out. However, the researcher also heard about one measure against the possibility to elect in two places: After the election, the finger of the person will be marked with waterproof colour, so people who already elected can be recognized.

Concluding it can be stated that the state limits the right to elect for its citizens without registration, state reproduces a part of society whose voice is contested and participation in decision making is restricted. Howe ver, most internal migrants don’t seem to consider it as a problem that they can’t vote in Osh as their original village is near and they go back to the village for voting. Nevertheless they can’t participate in elections which are only related to the city, thus Concluding it can be stated that the state limits the right to elect for its citizens without registration, state reproduces a part of society whose voice is contested and participation in decision making is restricted. Howe ver, most internal migrants don’t seem to consider it as a problem that they can’t vote in Osh as their original village is near and they go back to the village for voting. Nevertheless they can’t participate in elections which are only related to the city, thus

5.2.4.4 Property Rights Land Allocation

One topic which was raised numerous times during the interviews was the dependence of the right to receive a piece of land of the government to the place of registration. Citizens of Kyrgyzstan are eligible to receive a plot of land of the government, if they meet following conditions to be eligible for land allocation in Osh ( Osh Major’s Office Website, 2010):

The person…  …should have lived in Osh for at least 3 years

 …shouldn’t have allocated land somewhere else before  …should never had an own property (House, apartment). But there is an exception for citizens whose housing conditions don’t comply with sanitarian standards and requirements  …shouldn’t have broken the civil law during the last five years and shouldn’t have been

involved in dealing with allocated land like selling, changing or gifting. For the application for a plot of land, somebody should bring all the required documents which are

proving that all these criteria are fulfilled. Additionally a registration in the place of residence of the applicant and his family members is required for being eligible to obtain a plot of land ( Osh Major’s Office Website, 2010; UNECE, 2010, p.43). Therefore it was one of the main concerns of the interviewees that t hey can’t receive a plot of land of the government without being registered in Osh.

“The main challenge for us with having no propiska is that we cannot get a plot of land here and we can’t get social benefits.” (Svetlana, Osh 201о)

However in 2011, for a period of time, the major’s office also gave land to people without a registration in Osh if they fulfil several criteria. It was a reaction on that incidence in 2011, where some Kyrgyz internal migrants occupied a piece of land belonging to an Uzbek land owner and claimed for land plots. To mitigate the potential of conflict in that situation, in consideration of the conflict between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in June 2010, the major’s office announced to give land plots to the people who need it, who are living in Osh since a long time and are not registered in Osh (Akmatov, 2011). So, for a short period of time, it was possible to obtain a plot of land from the major’s office without the requirement of a registration in Osh.

During the interviews it became clear that there was some confusion about that measure. Most people heard about it, but sometimes they didn’t know that this is just an exception for a short period of time and have mistaken it as a new law. Other people just didn’t hear from that measure from beginning, and when they hear it, it was already too late to apply for land. There were also differing notions of the criteria which you have to meet to be eligible to receive a plot of land in Osh. So it happened that many of the interviewed migrants tried to apply for a plot of land even During the interviews it became clear that there was some confusion about that measure. Most people heard about it, but sometimes they didn’t know that this is just an exception for a short period of time and have mistaken it as a new law. Other people just didn’t hear from that measure from beginning, and when they hear it, it was already too late to apply for land. There were also differing notions of the criteria which you have to meet to be eligible to receive a plot of land in Osh. So it happened that many of the interviewed migrants tried to apply for a plot of land even

be registered in Osh. Out of the perspective of the officials and the organizations, there can also be some space for

cheating if somebody changed the registration to Osh and apply for land there, because the Gos registry don’t work with a central database, thus it’s difficult to them to control if somebody already applied for a plot of land in another place. In that way, a person could receive a plot of land twice.

5.2.4.5 Social Benefits

Social benefits like support for disabled people or for low income families with children also depend on the place of registration. Internal migrants, who aren’t registered in Osh, don’t receive social allowances from Osh. It was raised often as one of the main challenges in the interviews, to get social benefits without a registration in Osh. The dilemma lies in the fact that the migrants can’t get them in Osh because of the missing registration in Osh, and they also face difficulties in receiving them in their place of registration, because they physically don’t live there:

“Another problem is the social benefits for children. In the origin place of propiska we can’t receive them as physically we don’t live there. They are saying that you are not living there. And here you don’t have propiska so you are not eligible to get from Osh budget.” (Svetlana, Osh 201о)

It didn’t became clear in the interviews if either the whole family have to be registered in one place to be eligible to receive social benefits, or if it is enough if one part of the parents and the children

are registered in the place where you ask for social benefits. The statements in the interviews to that point where contradicting each other. There was one migrant who lives in Osh and is registered in Osh who told us that his family, which also lives in Osh, doesn’t get social benefits for the children because his wife isn’t registered in Osh. In another family, the woman was registered in Osh, but not her husband, so, in order to receive social benefits, she also registered in the village. Another woman who was registered in Osh told that her children are registered to her husband who has the registration in the village, so they also get social benefits in the village. Either there is some confusion about the law of getting social benefits, or the implementation of that law is just not implemented in the same way in all the places.

However, some interviewed migrants were able to receive social benefits in the villages were they were registered, even if they didn’t live there:

“My propiska is in the village but the last 20 years I live in Osh. We have social benefits, a plot of land and even a house in the village but physically we are living here. As we pay all our taxes there for land and etc., we of course receive social benefits there. I was said that if I deregister from the village I will not be able to “My propiska is in the village but the last 20 years I live in Osh. We have social benefits, a plot of land and even a house in the village but physically we are living here. As we pay all our taxes there for land and etc., we of course receive social benefits there. I was said that if I deregister from the village I will not be able to

The different experiences with the social benefits in the place of registration might be explained with the payment of taxes: It might

be possible that people who aren’t registered at their parents place in the village but have an own property which they pay taxes for, experience less difficulties in receiving social benefits than people who aren’t paying taxes for a property. Even though there were other interviewees who justified the right for social benefits in the village with the paying of taxes, there aren’t enough evidences coming out of the interview to approve this suggestion. In the

case that the migrants receive social benefits in the place of registration, the time- and money expenses were not such a big problem in most cases, since the distance from the place of origin to Osh was rather short for most migrants, thus only few of the respondents consider it as a problem to travel back to pick up their social benefits.

5.2.4.6 Access to Work

Even if organizations told that the registration in Osh can be important for finding work, most interviewed migrants didn’t tell about any problems in getting access to work. Probably that’s

because most of the interviewed internal migrants worked at the bazar – many of them illegally. Logically , if they work illegally, they don’t face problems because of their illegal residence status because of the absent of registration in Osh. However, there were also some interviewees worked in other p laces than the bazar, e.g. on a bank, and didn’t face problems to get this work without registration in Osh, sometimes the employers didn’t even ask about it. One of the interviewee used his military card instead of registration of Osh to find a work:

“I do not have propiska. I used military card, upon moving to Osh, I registered it here in Osh, it gave me opportunity to find a job. It was n’t related to my propiska.”(Aidana, Osh 2013)

Despite the fact that the vast majority of the interviewees didn’t tell about problems, there was some evidence coming out of the interviews that, depending on the place of work, there can be

some difficulties with finding work in Osh without a registration there. Six migrants told about difficulties in finding work without registration which they either experienced by themselves or they heard about from other people. For example, one lecturer needed a registration in Osh to work in the university, and two other interviewees told that, if they would work on their profession which was as a nurse and as a student of management, they would also need a registration. From the department for migration and employment the researcher learned that there is no law existing which says that workers should have a registration in their place of residence, but some international organisations require a registration in Osh. However the department only arrange education programs and jobs for people who are registered in Osh.

A special system seems to take place for official workers. The interviewed officials told that there would be a special list for people who are sent through the country for work, so they are not asked about their registration. One interviewed official worker in the passport office wasn’t even registered in Osh by himself.

5.2.4.7 Access to Bank Services

For the different bank services in relation to registration in Osh, the insights provided of the interviews are contradictive. For picking up money like remittances of relatives, or for sending money, the interviewees always had to show the ID card. Given that the registration is written there, the bank employees could recognize whether they are registered in Osh or not, but none of the respondents experienced problems because the registration is not in Osh. They just had to show the ID card and were never refused because their registration is not in Osh, and they weren’t even asked about their registration. In order to get a loan, it seems that a registration in Osh is not essential. Rather it is crucial whether the credit receiver owns some property or not. If this property and therefore the registration is in Osh or in another place doesn’t matter. According to the interviewees, people who don’t have property don’t have a chance to receive a loan, because the existence of property plays the role of insurance for the credit.

“We put the house from the village as a security insurance and then we got credit. […] When they saw the documents, they understood that we are from the village and they never asked for propiska in Osh. We just live h ere but we don’t have any problems with documents in Osh.” (Jazgul, Osh 201о)

However, there were some contradictive statements like this:

“When you want to take a credit from the bank you need propiska, if you don’t have registered you are not allowed for taking credit. […] I don’t know well enough about propiska, but if you have propiska you can get money from a bank for buying even apartment.” (Djamila, Osh 2013)

There are two additional statements from other interviewees which also contain the impossibility of getting loan without registration in Osh. It’s possible that the experiences are really differing between different people. Maybe there are other reasons that some people are refused to receive a credit, and they might think it is because of the absence of registration in Osh. Or possibly they didn’t even try to get a loan and think in advance that it is not possible without being registered in Osh. The fact that the interviewees didn’t talk about specific experiences where they tried to get a loan and their answers are more general supports that suggestion. The quote of one interviewee shows that the fact that you need a registration in Osh for picking up a loan is not an experience, but more something the interviewee just heard about; s he isn’t even sure about it by herself.

5.2.4.8 Other Implications of Lacking Registration in Osh

The above discussed limitations were mentioned the most during the interviews. Further there were some other difficulties occurring because of the absent of registration in Osh. One problem was taking place in obtaining birth and marriage certificates. Both the birth and the marriage certificate have to be picked up in the place of registration. So, if somebody is not registered in Osh, that person has to travel back to the place of registration and pick it up there. Further, the medical security number OMS must be requested in the place of registration as well. If the passport expires, it also has to be changed in the place of registration. Whether it is considered as

a problem or not to travel back to the place of registration for these services again depends on the a problem or not to travel back to the place of registration for these services again depends on the

Other implications which affect the internal migrants more indirectly are emerging because of the fact that people without a registration don’t exist in the statistics and thus aren’t considered in town planning. Because of that there aren’t enough schools, kindergartens, medical services and other infrastructure like public transports. Regarding the fact that the estimated population of Osh is the double amount of the official population, it makes a big difference when people without registration aren’t considered in town-planning.

5.2.4.9 Limitations of Rights and Access to Basic Services and the Implications for State-Society Relations

According to Foucault ’s (1978) concept of Governmentality, state exercises power and control over society through providing wealth for its population. To guarantee the wealth of the population, basic services and rights have to be provided for all the citizens. Through the lack of registration, the access to basic services and rights become restricted for a certain group of society, the internal migrants. State doesn’t fulfil its duties according to the concept of Governmentality: Its role as a provider is restricted and therefore either its control over society is limited. This again has implications on the expectations towards the state:

“Because we don’t have propiska we are aware that we can’t demand or ask for something, from the state. Even as we are hum an, we don’t get anything.” (Altynai, Osh 2013)

Many statements in the interviews let assume that people who aren’t registered don’t expect services from the state. They more rely on themselves in difficult situations, instead of waiting for help of the state. The researcher came across such an attitude especially by interviewing people who are living in a precarious situation, e.g. inhabitants in the datcha settlement or in dormitories, where they live illegally and are deprived not only from basic services and rights related to the registration, but also from services related to their place of living like water supply and other infrastructures, what seemed to be much more dramatic than the disadvantages deriving from the lack of registration. Indeed they accused the state for doing nothing, in the same time they explained that they can’t rely on the state as there is no help. According to Ruget and Usmanalieva (2007), low expectations of citizens towards their state and the attitude to rely more on themselves are attributes of a weak state. A further attribute which gives insight how strong or weak a state is brought from Smiths (2005) in Ruget and Usmanalieva (2007), who states that the delivery of services is one task which a state has to fulfil to be a strong state. Referring to this argumentation, the factor of limited basic services would imply a weak state, which also complied with Foucault’s (1978) argumentation, as through Governmentality, which includes the provision of services, is way to control society. If state ca n’t deliver all the services and allocate its resources, it Many statements in the interviews let assume that people who aren’t registered don’t expect services from the state. They more rely on themselves in difficult situations, instead of waiting for help of the state. The researcher came across such an attitude especially by interviewing people who are living in a precarious situation, e.g. inhabitants in the datcha settlement or in dormitories, where they live illegally and are deprived not only from basic services and rights related to the registration, but also from services related to their place of living like water supply and other infrastructures, what seemed to be much more dramatic than the disadvantages deriving from the lack of registration. Indeed they accused the state for doing nothing, in the same time they explained that they can’t rely on the state as there is no help. According to Ruget and Usmanalieva (2007), low expectations of citizens towards their state and the attitude to rely more on themselves are attributes of a weak state. A further attribute which gives insight how strong or weak a state is brought from Smiths (2005) in Ruget and Usmanalieva (2007), who states that the delivery of services is one task which a state has to fulfil to be a strong state. Referring to this argumentation, the factor of limited basic services would imply a weak state, which also complied with Foucault’s (1978) argumentation, as through Governmentality, which includes the provision of services, is way to control society. If state ca n’t deliver all the services and allocate its resources, it

Furthermore, the limited access of basic service for a certain part of the society again contributes to the separation of internal migrants from the rest of society. As showed above some basic services and rights directly depend on the place of registration, being registered or not directly influence daily life of internal migrants as basic services and rights become limited without registration, and they are excluded in decision making processes within their place of residence, even if they are citizens of Kyrgyzstan. Without registration, internal migrants might experience precarious living conditions. The new category created is not only a category of a part of society with fewer rights, but also a category of an invisible part of society, considering that these people don’t exist in any statistics or official town planning. This invisibility of one part of the society has impacts on the larger scale of social control, on the level of the nation-state. Referring to Foucault (1978), modern nation states generate power and social control through Governmentality, i.e. the state should provide all the resources and services with the aim to guarantee the welfare of its population. If there are no statistics about the numbers of people living in a certain area and the people without registration aren’t included in planning, state isn’t able to provide welfare for the whole population as particularly the internal migrants without registration are excluded.

This creation of two categories and the effect on daily life of internal migrants shows that state penetrates society with its registration system in the terms of setting a condition for access to services and rights. Referring to Migdal ’s definition of strong and weak states, to penetrate society is one attribute of a strong state. Therefore this aspect would contradict the findings above based on Ruget and Usmanalieva (2007). Following Migdal ’s (1989) argumentation of social penetration,

he describes that it can occur in several forms and determines the grade of domination of state over society. If the domination is very strong, state fully manages to transform the practices of society. The numbers of internal migrants without registration let conclude that, even if they are aware about the difficulties they encounter through the lack of registration, they still migrate. Therefore the limitations of basic services and rights through state don’t fully transform the practices of society. It affects the lives of internal migrants but they obviously put up with it and still migrate. So there is a degree of transformation through the creation of a precarious situation for internal mig rants, but transformation doesn’t take place in full extent as state doesn’t he describes that it can occur in several forms and determines the grade of domination of state over society. If the domination is very strong, state fully manages to transform the practices of society. The numbers of internal migrants without registration let conclude that, even if they are aware about the difficulties they encounter through the lack of registration, they still migrate. Therefore the limitations of basic services and rights through state don’t fully transform the practices of society. It affects the lives of internal migrants but they obviously put up with it and still migrate. So there is a degree of transformation through the creation of a precarious situation for internal mig rants, but transformation doesn’t take place in full extent as state doesn’t