1. Lack of legal safeguards against childhood statelessness
For children born to one citizen parent and one stateless parent they are entitled to citizenship regardless of their place of birth. Despite this protection under the Constitutional Law, UNHCR has raised concerns that children in these circumstances may still be at risk of statelessness. If the parent with different citizenship is stateless, there is a possibility for the child to become stateless as well, despite Article 13(4) of the Constitutional Law stating they will be a citizen, due to specifications in the Resolution on the rules of issuance of passports of nationals of the Republic of Tajikistan”. However, there is a difference in the way citizenship is established if the mother is a stateless individual and the father is a citizen of the Republic of Tajikistan. The child acquires Tajik citizenship upon the presence of a marriage/ dissolution certificate of parents, necessary to confirm the fact of paternity of the biological father of the child. On the birth certificate of the child the name of the child’s father (a citizen of Tajikistan) is indicated. If the mother is a citizen of the Republic of Tajikistan and the father is a stateless individual, the child is automatically granted citizenship, even if the marriage of the parents is not registered at the civil registry office. In this case, the basis for obtaining a birth certificate for the child is a medical document on the fact of birth issued in a maternity hospital.
Similar to other Central Asian countries, Tajikistan’s citizenship laws include an additional condition of permanent residency when both parents are stateless. The law states that if a child is born in the territory of Tajikistan to two stateless parents, or parents with undetermined nationality, the child will be a national of the Republic only if at least one parent has permanent residency at the time of birth. This requirement fails to protect children of stateless parents who may not have permanent residency, placing them at risk of intergenerational statelessness. However this residency requirement does not seem to apply in circumstances where either both parents are foreigners or one parent is a foreigner and the other is stateless. In this circumstance the child shall be considered a citizen of Tajikistan if they are not granted citizenship from their foreign citizen parents state.
Article 13(8) of the Constitutional Law provides that children with unknown parents (foundling children) “shall become a national of the Republic of Tajikistan”. However, UNHCR has raised concerns that the language included in this provision implies that the child must go through an application process to become a citizen.
2. Administrative barriers
In Tajikistan, a birth certificate is required in order to obtain identity documents. While the birth registration rate in Tajikistan was reported to be at 95.8% in 2017, birth registration has been a major challenge in Tajikistan with an estimated 50,000 births per year going unregistered. Poor infrastructure, poverty, and past policy of charging a fee for registration made registration rates particularly low in rural areas. On top of this, the process of registration was long and time consuming. Major changes in 2019 amended some of these issues and greatly improved access to birth registration. In April of 2019, a new electronic system for processing birth registration was introduced which significantly reduced the time as well as resources required to complete the process. On top of this, a 2019 amendment to the Civil Registration Law removed the fees required for birth registration for the first 3 months after birth of the child, making it more accessible for rural and poor families. This amendment is expected to positively impact women and girls in particular as they have previously been left behind in registration due to the fees required for registration and the prioritization of male family members.
Despite the protection under the Constitutional Law for children born to parents, one of whom is a citizen and one of whom is stateless, UNHCR has raised concerns that children in these circumstances may still be at risk of statelessness due to the Resolution On the Rules of Issuance of Passports of Nationals of the Republic of Tajikistan. Article 8 of the Resolution states that when applying for a passport – which functions as a citizenship certifying document – both parents of the child are required to submit their passports. Many stateless people lack passports and are unable to meet this requirement, placing their children at risk. Tajikistan does not currently have legislation to specify what documents are required in order to obtain citizenship. Article 10 of the Constitutional Law only provides that the “document confirming nationality of the Republic of Tajikistan is an official document that indicates nationality of a person.” To ensure protection from statelessness for children of stateless parents, UNHCR has advised that legislation should be amended to remove the requirement of the parents showing documentation in the application for the child’s passport.
