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Thursday, July 30, 2020

Russia’s weaponization of passport in East Ukraine

This article is by
Syed Ahmed Uzair
Syed Ahmed Uzair
Eastern Europe

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Article Contributor(s)

Syed Ahmed Uzair

Article Title

Russia’s weaponization of passport in East Ukraine

Publisher

Global Views 360

Publication Date

July 30, 2020

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Pro-Russian rebels in Donetsk, Eastern Ukraine

Pro-Russian rebels in Donetsk, Eastern Ukraine | Source: Mstyslav Chernov via Wikimedia

On 24th April 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree which would simplify the procedure for acquiring Russian citizenship in the regions of Eastern Ukraine namely, Donetsk and Luhansk. He followed this up with another signing on 1st May. It extended the citizenship right to other categories of Ukrainians including the natives of Crimea.

Putin defended the move on humanitarian grounds but it drew criticism from the European Union and Ukraine. Despite the opposition, Russia went ahead with the distribution of passports in these regions of Ukraine.

The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs had announced on Jan 1, 2020, that it had granted citizenship to nearly 196,000 Ukrainians. Moscow plans to grant one million citizenships to people in these areas by the end of 2020,

Russian President Vladimir Putin defended the move by saying there was nothing wrong in granting citizenship to the people of Eastern Ukraine and cited the example of countries like Poland and Romania which also grant citizenship on the basis of ethnicity.

At the end of a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un Putin told the reporters "How are Russians in Ukraine worse than Romanians, Poles or Hungarians? I don't see anything unusual here."

The move, however, has drawn criticism from Ukraine and the European Union. It also  dashed hopes of reviving the Russia-Ukraine peace talks that have stalled since 2015.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the new President of Ukraine who was less confrontational towards Russia during his campaign said “Unfortunately, this decree does not bring us closer to the ultimate goal of a ceasefire.” He further stated “These actions are yet more confirmation for the world community of Russia’s true role as an aggressor state, which is waging a war against Ukraine.”

Pavlo Klimkin, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister termed it a “continuation of aggression and interference in our internal affairs.” He was seen advising people in a twitter post that Russia had deprived them of the present and was now trying to trespass on their future.

Ukraine warned that it would not recognize the passport in the event of its usage for crossing the border. The then Prime Minister of the country, Volodymyr Groysman wrote on Twitter,” I emphasize that we will never recognize the citizenship issued by the aggressor country” and termed the passports as a “flagrant violation of all rights and morals”.

The Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine targeted the timing of the announcement and said that it was a challenge “not only for Kyiv but Berlin, Paris, Brussels and Washington”.

The EU also stated that it was against the spirit and the objectives of the Minsk peace accords signed by Russia and Ukraine in 2015. Federica Mogherini, a spokeswoman for the EU’s top diplomat, said the distribution of Russian passports was "another attack on Ukraine's sovereignty by Russia."

Putin’s move to grant passports in Eastern Ukraine has been cited as Russia’s unwillingness towards granting Ukraine full control over the Russian occupied regions. It indicates Moscow’s intentions to increase Russian influence in the country and hence weaken the sovereignty of Ukraine as a nation.  

It appears that Russia has now weaponised the passport in its six-year long undeclared war with Ukraine in a hope that this will vastly improve its claim of working to protect the interest of Russian citizens in the disputed region of Eastern Ukraine.

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February 4, 2021 4:54 PM

Relaxed Immigration: The key to rejuvenate aging workforce of Japan

Late in 2018, a bill was passed in Japan to widen the entry of immigrant workers. The bill was to mitigate severe shortage of labor amidst an aging population and falling birth-rates. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe described the bill as a much-needed reform to ensure the smooth functioning of Japanese  economy. The bill makes it easier for immigrants to work for longer duration in Japan.

More than 20% of Japan’s population is over 65 years old which is the highest proportion in the world. It is projected that by 2030, one in every three people will be above 65 years or older and one in every five will be 75 years or older.

The fertility rate has fallen to 1.4 children per woman in Japan which has been attributed to a host of factors including changing lifestyles, people marrying late, not marrying at all, and the economic insecurity of the younger generation. It is projected that by 2050, Japan’s population will decline by twenty million while the world population is expected to increase by two billion.

Japan has traditionally been quite homogenous with  very little diversity to show. This trend now appears to be changing as today nearly three million migrants live in Japan which is three times more than the figures of 1990. As the country struggles with a rapidly aging population and severely declining domestic labor, the number in all likelihood is only going to increase.

Conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe based his support for the reforms in immigration policy on demographic arguments.The conservative section of the parliament has been a staunch supporter but the left opposition has been critical of the bill citing concerns about a lack of regulation on the employers which could lead to over-exploitation of the workers. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government promised to set up a hundred consultation centers nationwide for dealing with issues related to workplace abuse specifically for the migrant workers.

However, that’s as far as those resisting the bill have gone. Nationalist and xenophobic voices protesting the bill have failed to gather steam. In fact, according to a survey by Nikkei in January 2020, almost 70 percent of Japanese said it is “good” to see more foreigners in the country.

Japan’s aging population has made it difficult to find the workers and some companies have more than 120 job openings for every 100 job seekers nationwide. Quite evidently, immigration now appears to be the most feasible solution for Japan- a country that has traditionally been restrictive with its borders when it comes to ethnic diversity.

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