RUSSIA: Single migrant mothers from Central Asia struggle to hold on to their newborn babies, as financial instability and social stigma lead many to give them up

Record ID: 348500

  • Title: RUSSIA: Single migrant mothers from Central Asia struggle to hold on to their newborn babies, as financial instability and social stigma lead many to give them up
  • Date: 18th November 2011
  • Summary: SULEIMAN, 2, SON OF MIGRANT MOTHER DILARA INSIDE WOODSHED VARIOUS AS SULEIMAN WATCHES HIS MOTHER PILING UP WOOD
  • Embargoed: 3rd December 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Russian Federation
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,People
  • Reuters ID: LVA66JY9OM1WB52411GB74F3CVMA
  • Story Text: For many migrants working in Russia winter is the season they head home to see their families in Central Asia. But some will not be making the journey home, for fear of the social disgrace which could await them there Women make up an estimated one third of the total migrant workforce in Russia and those who fall pregnant while they are away face added financial hardship and the threat of being outcast in the conservative societies of Central Asia.
    The 'Neznaika' centre outside Moscow provides a refuge for migrant single mothers and babies. Faced with uncertain futures, and the shame of not having children within the traditional family framework, these women often find themselves in desperate situations.
    Altyn from Kyrgyzstan says she brought her twin baby sons to the shelter when her Russian common-law husband threw her out of his home.
    "I was living with my common-law husband, and when I gave birth, he wanted to register the children (in his apartment), but his mother was against it and she started to interfere and get him together with his previous wife. They went to the country house together for ten days and had a nice time. Then he returned and, in a word, they kicked me out," said Altyn, holding Artyom while a visiting doctor carried out a routine health check on her other son, Maxim.
    She had nowhere to go and called the shelter, she explains.
    "I was given the telephone number of Sapar Mulayevich (Kulyanov - Director of "Neznaika" Shelter ), I called and told him my story - of how I came to be out on the street, and I was accepted here," said Altyn.
    Some migrant women may choose to terminate their pregnancies or to give their children to an orphanage, such is the social stigma attached to having children outside marriage.
    "Yes every year we get pregnant women coming to us - 'gastarbeiters'. They have come here, got legal status, they pay taxes, then they get into an 'interesting situation' (pregnant) and then the problems start. They can't go back home, they would be condemned there, " said Sapar Kulyanov, director of the 'Neznaika' shelter.
    The 'Neznaika' shelter is supported by a Russian NGO called 'Priyut Detstva' founded in 1992.
    "Of course they can give up their children once they have given birth, and many do so - a large percentage of these children are rejected (by their mothers)" added Kulyanov.
    Migrant mother Dilara works in the woodshed at the shelter. The women who live there perform most of the basic chores themselves and cut wood for heating as the winter draws close.
    Dilara came to the 'Neznaika' shelter when her son Suleiman was two weeks old.
    "I found out that I was pregnant when he was just two weeks old inside my belly. I told (my husband) that I was pregnant and he told me to have an abortion. I said that no, I cannot. He said that he is not ready and he is still young and wants to have fun. This is how I ended up alone," said Dilara, working as two-year-old Suleiman watched.
    She plans to leave the shelter eventually and set up in her own home in Russia. She will continue to work and bring up her son as a single parent, she says.
    "The only option is to go to Moscow and to rent a flat or a room - this is the only option," said Dilara, who will not return to Central Asia with her son.
    The head of the information centre "Immigration and Law" Gavkhar Djurayeva told Reuters that increase of such babies is due to the low economic background of the women who have them.
    "It's clear that because of unregulated migration and low social standards, women who have been raped or had accidental encounters often become pregnant. There are a lot of women - around 30 percent of all migrants are women," she said.
    There are no confirmed figures of how many babies are born to migrant mothers in Russia. But if the mother has legal status then the child can get Russian citizenship, as is the case with Dilara's son, Suleiman.
    "He came to us as soon as he was born - he came straight from the maternity hospital with his mother. So what (can we say?) He is a Russian citizen," said Kulyanov.
    Russian authorities say that the number of permanent migrants in the capital is around 850,000 - 900,000 but others say that the figures are much higher. The influx of migrants from central Asia has given fuel to nationalistic sentiments in the county due to economic slowdown and high unemployment, even though analysts say Russia will rely more and more on migrants for economic growth in the medium term as its own population shrinks.
    A report earlier this month on Russia's demographics by the Berlin Institute predicts that migration from Central Asia will continue as the population of these countries rises, in contrast to Russia.
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