Law

1. Citizenship Law

a. Jus Sanguinis and Jus Soli Provisions

While there are many strong legal safeguards in national legislation across Central Asia, not all legislations align with the Statelessness Conventions’ guidelines to eliminate the risk of statelessness. The citizenship legislation of all countries in Central Asia operates through a mixed jus sanguinis and jus soli structure. In Kyrgyzstan, children born to one citizen parent will be a citizen regardless of birthplace. In Uzbekistan, to confer citizenship to a child born to one citizen parent and one foreign citizen parent – regardless of birthplace – the Uzbek citizen parent must request citizenship for their child. While Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan also only require one citizen parent to confer citizenship, there is differential treatment between children born within or outside of the country. Children born outside of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan must have at least one parent with permanent residence to be a citizen. In all countries of Central Asia, a child born to two citizen parents will be a citizen regardless of birthplace.

In Kyrgyzstan, as a result of 2023 amendments to citizenship laws, jus soli provisions provide automatic citizenship for children born to a stateless parent or parents. In Turkmenistan, children born to two stateless parents will only be a citizen if one parent has been habitually residing in the country. For children born to stateless parents in both Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, to access citizenship both parents must have permanent residence. There are no extra conditions placed on children born to two stateless persons in Uzbekistan, resulting in automatic citizenship at birth for these children. However, children born to one stateless parent and one foreign parent will not be a citizen in Uzbekistan. In Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, a child born to one stateless parent and one citizen parent will be a citizen regardless of birthplace. Further, children born to two foreign citizens in Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan will be a citizen if not guaranteed citizenship elsewhere.

The definitions of a stateless person in the national citizenship legislation of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan do not align with the definition provided by the 1954 Convention, which determines status of a potential stateless person by referring to national legislation on citizenship of the country the person has or had ties with. All but Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan define stateless persons in such a way that places the burden of proof on the stateless person to prove their lack of nationality. Tajikistan’s Constitution defines a stateless person as ‘a person who is not considered a citizen of any state in accordance with its legislation,’ which is in line with the definition included in the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. Kyrgyzstan’s 2023 amendments to citizenship laws changed its definition to remove the burden of proof and bring the definition in line with the 1954 Convention.

b. Naturalized citizenship

For all countries in Central Asia, permanent residence in the country is required for five years prior to submitting an application for naturalization. There is a simplified or expedited process of naturalization available for stateless persons in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan; however, Uzbekistan only allows this simplified process for stateless persons who are direct descendants of an Uzbek citizen. In Tajikistan, stateless persons may apply for naturalization at half the required period of permanent residence (two and a half years). In Kyrgyzstan, an expedited and simplified naturalization process is accessible for stateless persons and refugees. There is no simplified or expedited procedure available to stateless persons in Kazakhstan or Turkmenistan. For stateless persons in both Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, the documentation required to apply for naturalization may be a barrier.

In Kazakhstan, stateless persons must provide documentary proof of absence or termination of citizenship of another state in order to gain permanent residence status, which is a prerequisite for naturalization. However, many forms of such documentation are not accepted by the Republic. Kyrgyzstan also requires extensive documentation to prove stateless status and attain permanent residence status before applying for naturalization.

Article 32 of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons stipulates that the naturalization process for stateless persons should be expedited “to reduce as far as possible the charges and costs of such proceedings.” UNHCR recommends that, in order to expedite the process and align with the 1954 Convention, the requirement of permanent residence should be removed from the process of naturalization for stateless persons.

Conditions to acquiring citizenship by children in the Central Asian Countires

Conditions	Kazakhstan	Kyrgyzstan	Tajikistan	Turkmenistan
Child born in the territory to one citizen parent & one stateless parent		also applies to children born in this scenario outside the country
Children born to stateless parent(s)	parents must have permanent residence		parents must have permanent residence	one parent must be habitually resident
Children born in the territory to two foreign citizen parents (where they would otherwise be stateless)				if not granted citizenship elsewhere
Children born to one stateless parent, one foreign parent			only if born in the territory	only if born in the territory
Foundlings			but may have to go through application process
Children who would otherwise be stateless

Signifies that the country is a party to the convention

No existing provisions applying to children in this case (may be at risk?)

Signifies that the country is not a party to the convention

c. Dual citizenship

Dual citizenship is generally not permitted in any country of Central Asia. In Tajikistan, a person applying for citizenship must first renounce their prior citizenship, leaving people in this process at risk of statelessness. There are no provisions stipulating the process of renunciation in the citizenship legislation of Kazakhstan or Turkmenistan. Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan provide some safeguards against statelessness in the process of renunciation of prior citizenship in order to gain new citizenship. However, in Uzbekistan these safeguards are only for descendants of an Uzbek citizen, who will receive a letter of guarantee of citizenship for one year during which they must renounce prior citizenship. This ensures that they do not become stateless in between the process of renunciation and acceptance of citizenship to Uzbekistan. These same protections are not applied for foreign citizens in Uzbekistan. Article 7(1)(a) of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness states that State parties which allow renunciation of citizenship must ensure that “such renunciation shall not result in loss of nationality unless the person concerned possesses or acquires another nationality”.

Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan provide some safeguards against statelessness in the process of renunciation of prior citizenship in order to gain new citizenship. In Uzbekistan these safeguards are only for descendants of an Uzbek citizen, who will receive a letter of guarantee of citizenship for one year during which they must renounce prior citizenship. These same protections are not applied for foreign citizens in Uzbekistan.

2. Treaty ratification status

All countries in Central Asia have ratified the ICCPR, ICESCR, ICERD, CRC, and CEDAW. Uzbekistan is the only country in Central Asia that has yet to ratify the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. Turkmenistan has the highest ratification rate in the sub-region and is the only country in the sub-region to ratify both the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. Despite the fact that Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan have not yet ratified the Conventions on statelessness, much of their legislation already aligns with the Conventions, including the right to citizenship protected in the citizenship laws of both countries. Two States in Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, are parties to the Convention on Legal Aid and Legal Relations in Civil, Family and Criminal Cases (‘Minsk Convention’), which includes provisions binding State parties to ensure the right to a nationality, the right to change nationality, and freedom from arbitrary deprivation of nationality. However, only four States globally have ratified this Convention thus far.

Status of Accession of International Human Rights Treaties in Central Asia

Country	Stateless 1	Stateless 2	Refugee	ICCPR	ICESCR	ICERD	CRC	CEDAW
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Total	1	1	4	5	5	5	5	5

Signifies that the country is a party to the convention

Stateless 1 – 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons

Signifies that the country is not a party to the convention

Stateless 2 – 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness

Population

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.

Reported Stateless Population in Central Asia

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.

Causes of Statelessness

1. Lack of Legal Safeguards Against Childhood Statelessness

In Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan, additional conditions that require parents of stateless children to be permanent residents create gaps in protection against statelessness. The requirement of written consent or joint application in cases where one parent has a foreign nationality fails to prevent statelessness in the event of disagreement or inaction from parents in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Foundling children in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan will be citizens at birth. Uzbekistan will grant citizenship to foundling children only if their parents are ‘unknown’, while in Tajikistan, foundlings are guaranteed citizenship but may have to go through an application process in order to acquire it.

2. Pledge

Kazakhstan made two pledges at the 2023 Global Refugee Forum: to “establish relevant legislative safeguards to reduce statelessness in Kazakhstan within 2024-2025” and to “reduce the number of stateless persons through naturalization in 2024”.

At the High-Level Segment on Statelessness in October 2019, all countries in Central Asia other than Uzbekistan made pledges related to the reduction of statelessness. At the event, Kazakhstan pledged to improve birth registration access by amending national legislation. Kyrgyzstan made pledges to regulate the statelessness determination process, ensure all children have a birth certificate and align birth registration legislation with international standards, and “study the experience of other State parties to the 1954 and 1961 Conventions on Statelessness”. Tajikistan also pledged to consider legalization of persons illegally residing in Tajikistan, ensure universal birth registration by reforming the Civil Registration System, improve statistics on statelessness by identifying persons at risk of statelessness, stateless persons and persons with undetermined nationality, and consider ratifying the statelessness conventions. Further, Turkmenistan pledged to implement a widespread registration campaign and improve statistics, resolve all cases on statelessness, and redefine the definition of the status of stateless persons, and end the risk of statelessness for children of undocumented parents.

UNHCR commended Kyrgyzstan for its 2023 amendments to citizenship legislation, which show action towards fulfilling the pledges made by the country in 2019. Further, new legislation passed in 2021 brought birth registration legislation in line with international standards. Outside of Kyrgyzstan, almost none of the 2019 pledges have been fulfilled. A new Amnesty Law and reform in the Civil Registration system have been implemented in Tajikistan, and some improvements in birth registration have occurred in Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan also made a pledge to resolve all existing cases of statelessness by 2024. However, with a high number of stateless persons reported to UNHCR in 2022, fulfilling this pledge seems unlikely.

3. Citizenship Stripping

In Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, citizenship may be stripped on the grounds of being involved in terrorist crime. While individuals in Kazakhstan are able to file appeals to reinstate their citizenship, there are currently no laws in Kazakhstan preventing those who are stripped of their citizenship from becoming stateless. There is a six-month window where an individual stripped of citizenship in Kyrgyzstan can appeal the decision. Citizens of Uzbekistan may have their citizenship stripped for failing to register with the permanent consulate register within seven years without valid reasons while living abroad. The right to appeal is guaranteed in Uzbekistan.Turkmenistan’s citizenship law protects citizens from being deprived of their citizenship in any circumstances.

4. Administrative Barriers

While birth registration rates are high in Central Asia, Uzbekistan is the only country in the sub-region to achieve a 100% birth registration rate. The remaining countries in Central Asia are not far behind with birth registration rates in the high 90th percentile (Kazakhstan: 99.7%; Kyrgyzstan: 98.9%; Tajikistan: 94%; Turkmenistan: 99.6%). Birth registration is a prerequisite for citizenship in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and is required to obtain identity documents in Tajikistan. Due to gaps in legislation and implementation in Kazakhstan, birth registration for children born to undocumented parents at times has resulted in non-compliant documents being issued and left children at risk of statelessness. In Kyrgyzstan, a new law came into force in June 2023 ensuring all children are registered at birth regardless of the legal status of their parents and providing birth registration access for children who have already been born to stateless or undocumented parents.

Parents who lack identity documents may have difficulty registering their child’s birth in practice in Tajikistan. However, Tajikistan has made significant improvements in birth registration with its new electronic system launched and amendments to the Civil Registration Law in 2019. The changes waive the requisite fee when a birth is registered in the first 3 months, making it more accessible for rural and poor women and families. Turkmenistan also enacted a new law which ensures universal birth registration, which aims to prevent childhood statelessness. Prior to this law, children born to undocumented parents, stateless parents, or parents with undetermined nationality had low access to birth registration due to lack of documentation.

5. Requirement of birth registration for citizenship acquisition

Passports as well as birth certificates certify citizenship in Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. In Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, a birth certificate certifies citizenship before a passport is issued (and up until a child reaches the age of 16 in Turkmenistan). While Tajikistan’s citizenship legislation does not specifically state which documents are required to certify citizenship, a birth certificate is required in order to obtain identity documents, including a passport. Tajikistan’s Constitutional Law only provides that the “document confirming nationality of the Republic of Tajikistan is an official document that indicates nationality of a person.” A National ID is the main citizenship certifying document in Kazakhstan; however, to obtain a National ID, one must at least submit their birth certificate and ID of one of their parents.

Birth registration rates of countries in Central Asia

Source: Birth and Death Registration Completeness” (UN Statistics Division, April 2023); Data Warehouse,” UNICEF DATA, https://data.unicef.org/resources/data_explorer/ unicef_f/

Central Asia

Overview

Law