**1. Introduction**

Uzbekistan is a rapidly growing country with a young population, with an average age of 29.1 years [1]. The population of Uzbekistan since the year of independence has almost doubled from 20.4 in 1991 to 35.6 million people as of July 1, 2022, and the number of people in need of employment is 1.4 million people (as of 01.04.2022), although about 2.4 million people work abroad, 568.5 thousand (24.1%) of which are women [2]. Of the migrant labourers, 1.5 million (61%) are working in Russia, 366.3 thousand in Kazakhstan, 144.7 thousand in Turkey, 47.4 thousand in South Korea, and 348.1 in the other countries. From January to May 2022, remittances of individuals from abroad amounted to \$4.19 billion, which is 61% more compared to the same period in 2021. The main destination country for migrants from Uzbekistan is Russia and, according to estimates by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, remittances from Russia are the most important source of foreign currency revenues and income for the country (11.4% of GDP). Monthly remittances per migrant worker amounted to \$453 [2].

Russia is attracting up to 64.4% of Uzbekistan migrant labourers and many of them experience frequent violations of their human rights because of their irregular status or often fall victim to human trafficking (HT) or even slavery. These issues arise despite the visa-free regime, and are usually due to overstays, the lack of appropriate registration, or the absence of a work permit (patents) [3]. Unfortunately, legally working migrants often experience similar violations of their human rights as illegally working migrants, especially by police authorities. The various administrative barriers represent an enormous challenge for migrant labourers from non-Eurasian Union CIS countries, like Uzbekistan in Russia. They need to pass tests on the history, legislation, and language of Russia; the obligation to register anew upon every entry. By failing to register migrants and pay the resulting taxes to the state budget, unscrupulous employers also push migrants out of legality. The problem of forged documents is also relevant [4].

Substantial financial expenses incurred by migrants push some of them into debt bondage. In 2018, about 21% of migrants in seven border regions of Russia worked without a patent and over 15% paid bribes to obtain one [4]. The main obstacles in obtaining the necessary patents included the lack of financial resources, the employer's passive attitude, and the overly complicated and lengthy administrative procedure. The number of victims is estimated to range from 0.6 to 1.5 million [5, 6]. Uzbekistan government's attempts to establish regulated labour recruitment schemes, which address the residence and work permit requirements already at the predeparture stage, have not paid off to date. Whereas Uzbekistan concluded agreements on recruitment schemes with Russia in 2017. Nevertheless, the lack of a centralized admission and registration system for migrant workers, persistent mass violation of migrants' rights and their exploitation, as well as corruption in government agencies make these schemes unattractive [4].

According to various sources, the policy of entry bans for migrants in Russia has increased the number of actual and potential Trafficking in Human Beings (THB) victims in Central Asian countries. The well-organized criminal networks facilitate human trafficking through high-level corruption and money laundering that take place both in receiving and sending institutions of Russia and Uzbekistan [7].

This chapter is devoted to the practice of organized recruitment of labour migrants from the republics of Central Asia (in our case, from Uzbekistan) to Russia from the end of 2020. The article 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). The article consists of an introduction, five chapters, and a conclusion. The first chapter considers the history of the existence of organized recruitment in the USSR when Uzbekistan was part of it. The second chapter is devoted to modern migration processes. The third chapter provides a brief analysis of the migration policy and legislation in Russia especially on the protection of migrant labourers from trafficking and slavery. The fourth chapter discusses the legislation and migration policy of Uzbekistan to protect its own migrant workers. The fifth chapter presents the "ideal layout of the organized recruitment process on paper." And the last sixth chapter, on the materials of more than 1000 appeals by Uzbek migrants to human rights organizations about violations of their rights, shows how organized recruitment really works, turning many migrants into slaves. The conclusions briefly discuss reasons why the organization's state recruitment policy in Uzbekistan turns their labourers into slaves.
