With the dissolution of the USSR, 280 million people became stateless, 60 million of whom resided in territories that are now recognized as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. While many people have since been able to resolve their status, some are still left stateless due to gaps in legislation of the new successor States. New cases of statelessness have also arisen due to legislation gaps. In the UNHCR Global Action Plan to End Statelessness, the requirement for cooperation in the Central Asia sub-region as well as among all States affected by state succession was expressed.
1. Reported Stateless Persons
Combined, Central Asian countries reported just over 46,000 stateless persons to UNHCR in 2022. Since the beginning of 2019, the stateless population in this sub-regional has incrementally declined with a total reduction of 51,431 persons. Much of this reduction in population is due to a notable decrease in the stateless population of Uzbekistan. Kazakhstan and Tajikistan have seen general upward trends in reported stateless persons, while the reported stateless populations in Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan have fluctuated since 2019.
Notably, Kyrgyzstan was the first country to successfully resolve all known cases of statelessness in the country in July 2019. Since this time, the country has identified new cases, reporting 203 stateless persons to UNHCR at the end of 2022.
| Country | 2019 (year start) | 2020 (year end) | 2021 (year end) | 2022 (year end) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kazakhstan | 7,690 | 7,999 | 7,831 | 8,569 |
| Kyrgyzstan | 548 (0 at year end) | 18 | 600 | 203 |
| Tajikistan | 4,616 | 6,385 | 6,110 | 5,391 |
| Turkmenistan | 4,714 | 3,924 | 4,280 | 4,527 |
| Uzbekistan | 79,942 | 69,791 | 37,993 | 27,389 |
| TOTALS | 97,510 | 88,117 | 56,814 | 46,079 |
Source: UNHCR, Global Trends: Forced Displacement from 2019-2022.
2. Persons at Risk of Statelessness
Across Central Asia, the Lyuli/Mugat (also referred to as Luli/Roma and Lyuli/Mughat; recognized in Tajikistan as Roma/Jughi; although the preferred term is Mugat/Mughat) ethnic group experiences low access to social services due to widespread discrimination. Historically, the Mugat community lived a nomadic lifestyle and never acquired documentation such as birth certificates. While the community is no longer nomadic, the Mugat are at a much higher risk of statelessness as a result of remaining lack of documentation and discrimination. The community tends to be “confined to a low level education, informal employment, temporary housing and unaffordable medical services” and many face barriers in obtaining identity documents. Members of the Mugat community represent minorities in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan in particular, with limited information about the ethnic group in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. An estimated 69,851 members of the Mugat community reside in Uzbekistan.
