From 2022 to 2024, five partner organisations from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan collaborated with communities to conduct Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) on “Amplifying Voices of Central Asian Women Migrants for Human Rights and Development Justice.” which aimed to empower grassroots groups of internal and returned women migrants.

Through this process, the research enhanced collective action to challenge systemic injustices, discrimination, and violence faced by women in internal and cross-border labour migration. The FPAR highlighted key issues faced by women migrants, such as labour rights violations and limited access to decent work, limited access to state and municipal services, inadequate protections from domestic violence, and barriers to state reintegration programmes for returned migrants. Additionally, the research documented the actions and strategies Central Asian women have employed to defend their rights and advocate for structural changes – particularly on their struggles to secure decent work, living wages, social protection, and access to decent employment opportunities.

APWLD and our FPAR partners develop five country briefers to reflect the realities and struggles of grassroots women migrants and their fight for human rights. These briefers highlight the lived experiences of women internal and returned migrants in Central Asia, emphasising their collective struggle for justice and recognition of their fundamental rights.

  1. Labour Rights of Women Internal Migrants Living in the Ak-Zhar Residential Area – Ravnye Prava, Kyrgyzstan
  2. Women Returned Migrants in Uzbekistan Demand Access to Effective Reintegration Mechanisms – Association of Women in Agriculture, Fergana Branch, Uzbekistan
  3. Tajik Women Returned Migrants Assert Their Rights and Access to Protection from Domestic Violence – Ghamkhori, Tajikistan
  4. Women Returned Migrants Fight for Access to Decent Work and Demand Fulfillment of Their Human Rights in Tajikistan – Dunyoi Muhabbat, Tajikistan
  5. Women Internal Migrants Assert the Protection of Their Human Rights and Access to Basic State and Municipal Services in Kyrgyzstan – Human Rights Advocacy Centre, Kyrgyzstan