Study Site

5.1 Study Site

5.1.1 The City of Osh

The field research was carried out in the City of Osh, second biggest town in Kyrgyzstan and also called the “Capital of the South” (Fuhrmann, 2006, p.22). Osh’s correspondent Oblast is divided into 7 rayons (see figure 4).

Figure 4: Administrative oblasts and rayons in Kyrgyzstan

(Source: Schuler, 2007, p.80, modified by Aepli) Geographically Osh is located in the fertile and dense populated Ferghana Valley, only a few

kilometres distant to the border to Uzbekistan. During the Soviet period, Osh was an important industrial centre of the region (Fumagalli, 2007, p.217). The unemployment rate of Osh oblast is 6.6% which lies under the national average of 8.8%. Despite the fact that Osh oblast, together with Jalalabat oblast, has the highest poverty rate throughout the country, the incidence of poverty in the city of Osh is rather low. This means that rural poverty is significantly higher than urban poverty, which gives raise to rural-urban migration. (WB, 2013)

Photo 3 & 4: Main street in the centre of Osh (left) and a part of the Bazar in Osh (right)

(Source: Own photos)

5.1.2 Migration to Osh

As mentioned before, Osh together with Jalalabat is one of the main attracting points for internal migrants within the South. Together with Bishkek, Osh is one of the cities which experienced intense urban growth due to rural-urban migration. Officially, Osh is inhabited by 259’000 people, but due to a high number of people living there unofficially, i.e. without being registered, the actual number must be much higher. Many sources talk about additional 50’000 people living in Osh (UNECE, 2010, p.16), though there are estimations that the actual population size of Osh achieves 500’000 people (Akmatov, 2011), which would mean that the half of the population of Osh are internal migrants without registration, which is a remarkable amount and shows that migration without registration is a widespread phenomenon. People who migrate to Osh are mainly Kyrgyz from rural areas, while 40% of the urban population are Uzbeks. (ICG, 2010, p.1)

According to oral information from the Statistical Department of Osh oblast (see table 1), in the last three years Osh had a negative migration flux rate: More people left the oblast of Osh than moved to it. A part of the migrants moved abroad, while the majority moved to another oblast. Between 800 and 1000 people yearly moved within the oblast, most likely from rural areas to the city of Osh since this is the predominant direction.

2012 2013 (Jan-Mai) International

Within Oblast

Table 1: Osh Oblast migration fluxes (in Persons)

(Source: Statistical Department of Osh Oblast, 2013) 1

These are the official numbers deriving from a statistical form, collected from the passport office through the registration procedure. Thus these numbers don’t show the actual amount of migrants

1 The numbers derived from an interview with a representative of the Statistical Department of Osh Oblast. The interviewee was reading the numbers from a publication which he didn’t submit to the researcher.

as they don’t provide insight to migration happening without registration, but they show the portion of (internal) migrants who registered themselves in the place of destination. Compared with the estimated numbers of internal migrants discussed above, this is only a small part of the whole internal migration.

5.1.2.1 Interviewed Migrants in Osh Demographical Data

The researcher interviewed migrants in different age groups. 30% of the interviewees were under

30 years old, 52% were 30-50 years old, and scarcely 18% were older than 50 years. 69% of the interviewees were female, 31% male.

Most of the interviewed migrants (92%) were ethnic Kyrgyz. The interviewed experts also explained that internal migrants in Osh are mainly Kyrgyz. As discussed above, Kyrgyz more live in rural areas, and regarding that migration mainly happens from rural to urban areas that could be the explanation for that pattern. It also matches to the discussed evidence from literature that Kyrgyz more move to the centres Osh and Jalalabat, while Uzbeks more move out of the centre.

Place of Origin

All of the interviewed migrants came from rural areas within the south of Kyrgyzstan, predominantly from other rayons in Osh oblast, but also from the other southern oblasts Batken and Jalalabat. The distance to the place of origin was rather small and varied from ½ an hour to 4 ½ hours driving by car. The average distance added up to approximately 2 hours.

Registration

40% of the interviewed migrants were registered in Osh, while the other 60% weren’t registered in Osh but still had their registration in the village from which they arrived. It is a quite high percentage of migrants registered in Osh, if it is compared to the estimated numbers of migrants living in Osh without registration. This bias can be explained through the fact that one serial of interviews was conducted in the registration office, which was mostly visited in order to change details in existing registration, and not to register in the first place. Therefore the migrants encountered there were mostly registered in Osh. Most of the interviewed migrants live in Osh permanently. 16% of the interviewees have lived in Osh for less than 5 years, while 32% have lived there since 5-10 years, 30% 10-20 years and another 22% for more than 20 years. Some of them live in Osh already more than 20 years without registration.

Purpose of Migration

The predominant purposes of migration were oriented economically, most interviewees migrated in order to find a possibility to work and generate income for themselves and often for their families as well. Only a few interviewees migrated for studying in Osh, but the researcher also encountered them on the bazar working as merchants in their semester break. Other interviewees migrated to follow their families (near to 60% migrated with their families, around 40% came alone), or came as refugees after the ethnic conflict in 1990, but stayed in Osh out of economic reasons. According to a former expert of the Migration Department in Osh, the search for economic possibilities is the main reason for migration to Osh. These results also match to the findings gained from literature, The predominant purposes of migration were oriented economically, most interviewees migrated in order to find a possibility to work and generate income for themselves and often for their families as well. Only a few interviewees migrated for studying in Osh, but the researcher also encountered them on the bazar working as merchants in their semester break. Other interviewees migrated to follow their families (near to 60% migrated with their families, around 40% came alone), or came as refugees after the ethnic conflict in 1990, but stayed in Osh out of economic reasons. According to a former expert of the Migration Department in Osh, the search for economic possibilities is the main reason for migration to Osh. These results also match to the findings gained from literature,

Housing Situation

A bit more than the half (51%) of the interviewed migrants live in their own property in Osh, but some of them without registration. 43% live as tenants in Osh, all of them without registration. 6% live in the place of relatives.

In Osh, there are no Novostroikas or illegally built settlements as they exist in Bishkek, though there are many internal migrants living in precarious housing situations. Generally the house owners don’t assign their tenants any rights: None of the interviewed tenants had a tenancy agreement. The researcher by herself also didn’t have a tenancy agreement, and all the other tenants she came across and talked to neither had one. It seemed to be everyday practice that house owners don’t provide legal conditions for tenants.

Another precarious housing situation the researcher encountered in former dormitories. During the Soviet period, they were used for students and guest workers, and nowadays they are essentially inhabited by internal migrants as they were unused and provide a cheap accommodation (Sanghera, 2012). Some of them are still state-owned and inhabited illegally, while others were privatized and owned either by house owners who rent individual rooms or by the inhabitants themselves (see photo 5 & 6). According to a Domkom representative of a state owned dormitory, some of them were sold, while others were just bequeathed to the inhabitants as a reaction to long lasting occupation.

According to a lawyer of Advocacy Centre, internal migrants living illegally in state-owned dormitories are tolerated but don’t have a renting contract and thus can’t register in Osh. In the privatized dormitories, the situation doesn’t necessarily look better: Sometimes they are owned by ruthless house owners which certainly don’t issue rental contracts and don’t care about the sanitarian conditions of the house. Other migrants are luckier and own a room in the dormitory, but even in that case it happened that house owners unlawfully evicted them (Sanghera, 2012).

Photo 5 & 6: State-owned school dormitory (left) and a privatized dormitory, both located in Osh and inhabited by internal mirants

(Source: own photos) The researcher interviewed internal migrants in 3 dormitories. One of them was state owned, while

the others were privatized dormitories. All of them were in questionable conditions: The private ones had broken sanitation arrangements or a moulded underground, and in the state owned dormitory the roof was broken and if it rained, water was running through the whole building. No one felt responsible to take care about the infrastructure of those buildings. However, in the state- owned dormitory, the inhabitants organized themselves and repaired the roof by themselves. Furthermore the dormitories are very crowded: Sometimes a family with not less than 5 children live together in one single room which has the size of a few square meters (see photo 9). In one visited dormitory there are 5 of those rooms on one floor, who all share one single bathroom and one kitchen, which both are in miserable conditions (See photo 7 & 8).

Photo 7 & 8 & 9: Precarious living conditions in the dormitory of Osh: poor sanitary arrangements (left and middle) and small rooms (right)

(Source: own photos)

A further place were internal migrants find accommodation in a not entirely legal way are huts of a former datcha settlements in the outskirts of Osh (see photo 10). The researcher interviewed three internal migrants living in such a settlement since many years. The living conditions in that settlement were very poor, as there was hardly any infrastructure, e.g. there was no water access, and very few transport possibilities to the centre of Osh. Indeed the interviewed inhabitants of this settlement managed to get registered in their address, but according to the Advocacy Centre, this was actually not legal and only worked through bribery and contacts. Essentially these former A further place were internal migrants find accommodation in a not entirely legal way are huts of a former datcha settlements in the outskirts of Osh (see photo 10). The researcher interviewed three internal migrants living in such a settlement since many years. The living conditions in that settlement were very poor, as there was hardly any infrastructure, e.g. there was no water access, and very few transport possibilities to the centre of Osh. Indeed the interviewed inhabitants of this settlement managed to get registered in their address, but according to the Advocacy Centre, this was actually not legal and only worked through bribery and contacts. Essentially these former

Photo 10 & 11: Former datcha settlement inhabited by internal migrants (left) and a little datcha hut with an annexe (right)

(Source: own photos) Sanghera (2012) illustrates a further precarious living situation: On account of their poor economic

situation, some internal migrants live in old buildings which are classified as illegal as a consequence to their risk to fall. They are in a very bad condition and don’t comply with safety regulations anymore.