1. Reported Stateless Persons
Afghanistan reported zero stateless persons to UNHCR since 2019. In 2018, UNHCR noted one registered stateless person in Afghanistan. UNHCR has noted Afghanistan as a country that possesses information about stateless persons but lacks any reliable data. Some independent reports and commentary from UNHCR are available on the situation of semi-nomadic communities of Jat ethnicity (which includes the Jogi, Chori Frosh, and Mosuli groups) who were denied access to Afghan identity documents, Tazkeras, and rendered stateless. In 2019, some members of these communities were granted Tazkeras. Discrimination based on their semi-nomadic lifestyle, ancestral origins, and distinct economic practices contributes to their marginalized status, hindering their access to citizenship rights and putting them at risk of statelessness.
2. Persons at Risk of Statelessness
Millions of Afghans have fled Afghanistan due to wars and persecution in the country, with over 6.4 million Afghan refugees, persons in refugee-like situations, or asylum-seekers globally at the end of 2022. Further, over 1.6 million new Afghan refugee arrivals in neighboring countries have been reported since the Taliban takeover in August 2021. Overall in 2022, UNHCR noted over 9.5 million persons of concern from Afghanistan, including refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced persons (IDPs), returnees (refugees and IDPs), stateless persons, and others of concern.
Due to loss or denial of identity documents, the children of many Afghan refugees and asylum seekers are at risk of statelessness. Additionally, CSOs have highlighted how low rates of birth registration of refugees within Afghanistan — in 2022, Afghanistan hosted a population of just over 52,000 refugees — places children at risk of statelessness.
Access to identity documentation has rendered potentially millions of women in Afghanistan at risk of statelessness. A report by the Norwegian Refugee Council in 2016 found that women possessed Tazkeras at a rate far lower than men. Additionally, 52% of women in general held no identity documentation (Tazkera, Passport, Birth Certificates, Marriage Certificates), with this rate increasing to 75% among female IDPs (for male IDPs, 12% had no identity documents). UNHCR recorded 3,254,002 IDPs in Afghanistan at the end of 2021.
