State Organized Recruitment for the Russian Enterprises: Is It a Pass to a Better Life or to Slavery?

This chapter is devoted to the practice of organized recruitment of migrant labourers from Uzbekistan to Russia since late 2020. It examines the situation of the law as “on paper” and its operation in real life when many migrant workers fall into a situation of slavery or close to it (human trafficking). It discusses organized recruitment from a historical perspective from the USSR to modern times and provides the brief analysis of the migration policy and legislation in Russia and in Uzbekistan on the protection of migrant labourers. Based on the materials of more than 1000 appeals by Uzbek migrants to human rights organizations about violations of their rights, the chapter shows how organized recruitment really works, turning many migrants into slaves and why the organization state recruitment policy in Uzbekistan turns into the slavery for the migrant labourers from Uzbekistan.