Law

1. Citizenship Law

a. Jus Sanguinis and Jus Soli Provisions

The Law of the Kyrgyz Republic on Citizenship of the Kyrgyz Republic contains both jus sanguinis and jus soli provisions. Under Article 12 of the Law, a child, one or both of whose parents are citizens of Kyrgyzstan, is considered a citizen of Kyrgyzstan regardless of birthplace. Amendments were made in February 2023 to the citizenship laws of Kyrgyzstan removing the problematic requirements for written consent to acquire citizenship in circumstances where one parent is a foreign national. Now, in instances where one parent is a citizen of Kyrgyzstan and another parent is a foreign national, the child is considered a citizen of Kyrgyzstan unless both parents file a joint application to renounce the citizenship of Kyrgyzstan for the child who acquires another foreign citizenship at birth.

The definition of a stateless person in Article 3 of the Law on Citizenship has been amended to broadly align with the definition provided by the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. The 2023 amendments removed the burden of proof that had previously been placed on the stateless person.

b. Naturalized Citizenship

According to the Law on Citizenship of Kyrgyzstan, to obtain naturalization, stateless or foreign persons of at least 18 years of age must attain five years of residency, proficiency in a state or official language, comply with Kyrgyzstan’s Constitution and legislation, and have a source of subsistence. However, if the person is recognized as a refugee or a stateless person in accordance with legislation by the Kyrgyz government, the period of residency required is reduced to three years. There is a simplified procedure for naturalization that removes (or reduced to one year) both the required residency period and the other requirements listed above that covers some categories of stateless persons. UNHCR has found the procedure for naturalization available to stateless persons in line with Article 32 of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons which stipulates that such a process should be expedited for stateless persons to “reduce as far as possible the charges and costs of such proceedings”. UNHCR has recommended further simplification of the processes of naturalization including the waiving or reduction of fees and exemption for submitting certain documents.

c. Dual Citizenship

While Chapter 1 of the Law of the Kyrgyz Republic of Citizenship of the Kyrgyz Republic states that dual citizenship is not recognized by the Kyrgyz Republic, except for exceptional cases and existing bilateral treaties, some forms of dual citizenship are allowed. Safeguards exist in the laws of Kyrgyzstan to protect persons from statelessness if they renounce their Kyrgz citizenship in the process of acquiring the citizenship of another state.

2. Treaty Ratification Status

While Kyrgyzstan has not yet ratified the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons or the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, it has ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, the ICCPR, ICESCR, ICERD, CRC, and CEDAW.

Under its ratification of CEDAW, Kyrgyzstan is responsible for protecting gender equality in nationality laws. In 2021, the CEDAW Committee in its concluding observations noted that issues with access to birth registration and the limited scope of the statelessness determination procedure should be amended to better ensure gender equality in implementation of nationality laws. Certain ethnic minority groups including the Lyuli or Mugat community were identified by CEDAW as facing specific barriers to accessing birth registration. On birth registration, as a party to the ICCPR, Kyrgyzstan is obligated to ensure that every child be registered immediately at birth and protect their right to acquire nationality. Included in both the recent CEDAW and CERD Committee concluding observations is a recommendation to establish a simple and streamlined statelessness determination procedure which ensures that stateless persons in Kyrgyzstan may obtain their status without discrimination. In 2021, amendments were made to facilitate more streamlined access to birth registration for children of stateless parents, providing for instances where certain documents are unable to be provided.

Under its ratification of the ICERD, Kyrgyzstan is obligated to protect the right to nationality, to work, and to equal civil rights regardless of nationality, and to ensure non-discrimination on the basis of nationality. In 2018, the CERD Committee recommended in its concluding observations to improve legal safeguards against statelessness, such as the right to appeal in Kyrgyzstan. Further, it was also recommended that Kyrgyzstan “amend the Law on External Migration to ensure that the provisions on the removal of non-citizens from its jurisdiction do not” result in discriminatory refoulement. As a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, Kyrgyzstan is bound to protect the fundamental principle of non-refoulement. Expulsion of a stateless person should only be legally permitted in exceptional circumstances, of which Kyrgyzstan has overstepped in its legislation.

Kyrgyzstan has also ratified the Convention on Legal Aid and Legal Relations in Civil, Family and Criminal Cases (‘Minsk Convention’), which marks its obligation to ensure the right to a nationality, the right to change nationality, and freedom from arbitrary deprivation of nationality. However, only four States have ratified this Convention thus far.

Status of Accession Of International Human Rights Treaties

Country	Stateless 1	Stateless 2	Refugee	ICCPR	ICESCR	ICERD	CRC	CEDAW
Kyrgyzstan

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

3. Kyrgyzstan’s Pledges to End Statelessness

At the High-Level Segment on Statelessness in October 2019, Kyrgyzstan made four pledges on statelessness. By the end of 2020, Kyrgyzstan pledged to regulate the statelessness determination process as well as ensure that all children in Kyrgyzstan have a birth certificate. Kyrgyzstan also pledged to bring its laws on birth registration in line with international standards to ensure all children are registered immediately at birth. Finally, Kyrgyzstan pledged to “study the experience of other State parties to the 1954 and 1961 Conventions on Statelessness”.

While Kyrgyzstan did not fulfill their pledges to regulate statelessness determination, provide all children with a birth certificate, or bring its legislation on birth registration in line with international standards by 2020, in 2023 UNHCR has lauded Kyrgyzstan for their subsequent actions towards reaching these aims. Amendments to citizenship laws and new legislation came into force in 2023 which ensures that no child will be left behind in birth registration and provide far greater safeguards to stateless children in their territory. However, due to the recency of these laws the success of their implementation cannot be commented upon yet.

Population

1. Reported Stateless Persons

Kyrgyzstan became the first country to successfully resolve all known cases of statelessness in the country in July of 2019. However, Kyrgyzstan reported 203 stateless persons to UNHCR at the end of 2022, which shows that the number of identified stateless persons is still increasing despite the successes Kyrgyzstan has had in combating the issue. The stateless population in Kyrgyzstan is largely made up of former citizens of the USSR or others living in the area who have not yet gained citizenship of a new successor state.

Official statistics on stateless persons in Kyrgyzstan only includes individuals who have a permanent residence permit as well as an official document verifying their stateless status. There is currently no legislation regarding the collection of quantitative data on stateless persons in Kyrgyzstan. Further, statelessness determination is not covered by a specific statelessness determination procedure placed down in legislation but rather under regulations that are limited in their scope and only apply to certain categories of persons. The current regulations do not align with international standards.

2. Persons at Risk of Statelessness

The nomadic Lyuli/Mugat community have low access to social services due to discrimination. While the Lyuli/Mugat community is largely no longer nomadic, their nomadic past meant that many members of the community never acquired documentation such as birth certificates.

Further, children of stateless parents who are temporarily residing in Kyrgyzstan and those who are in the process of relinquishing their citizenship of another state to gain Kyrgyz citizenship have historically been at risk of statelessness. While recent amendments to citizenship laws should provide protection to these cohorts, their impact is yet to be seen.

Reported stateless persons to the UNHCR

Country	2019 (year start)	2020 (year end)	2021 (year end)	2022 (year end)
Kyrgyzstan	548 (0 at year end)	18	600	203

Source: UNHCR, Global Trends: Forced Displacement from 2019-2022.

Causes of Statelessness

1. Lack of Legal Safeguards Against Childhood Statelessness

In Kyrgyzstan, citizenship laws have been amended to remove the requirement of written consent from parents of different citizenship in order to pass Kyrgyz citizenship to their child which had created the potential for children in this situation to remain stateless. Amendments have also been made to address a gap in legal protection that existed for children born to stateless parents who are not permanent residents of Kyrgyzstan, with the requirements of residence removed from Article 12 of the Law on Citizenship. Article 12 stipulates that children with one parent who is stateless or unknown and one parent who is a citizen of Kyrgyzstan will have citizenship of Kyrgyzstan, regardless of their birthplace. Further, jus soli provisions also provide that a child born in the territory whose parents or single parent are stateless will also be a citizen. Further, where a child is born on the territory of Kyrgyzstan to foreign parents or a single parent and the state of their citizenship fails to grant citizenship to the child, they will be considered a citizen of Kyrgyzstan. Foundling children are also provided with citizenship as per Article 12 of the Law.

2. Citizenship Stripping

Kyrgyzstan has undertaken major amendments to the country’s citizenship laws to address a lack of safeguards against statelessness in the case of deprivation of citizenship. A Kyrgyz citizen may lose their nationality if they are found to be or have been involved in the commission of a terrorist crime. Article 41 of the Law on Citizenship provides that decisions regarding “citizenship may be appealed through the court” within six months of the decision. If this deadline is missed for a legitimate reason, an appeal may be filed.

3. Administrative Barriers

Although Kyrgyzstan does have a high birth registration rate at 98.9%, over 18,000 children under the age of 5 are lacking birth registration which prevents their access to many basic services. Previously, in order to register a birth of a child, the parents had to show documentation proving their identity, which presented a barrier for the birth registration of children born to two parents without documentation. However, in June of 2023, a new law came into effect which ensures that all children are registered at birth regardless of the legal status of their parents. This new law also protects children who have already been born to stateless or undocumented parents as they will now also be eligible for birth registration. Certifying documents for citizenship in Kyrgyzstan include both a birth certificate and passport. As a result, increased access to birth registration is likely to increase access to citizenship for individuals and families affected by statelessness in Kyrgyzstan.

While not an administrative barrier, increasing trends of unregistered marriages in rural areas is one reason why birth registration remains an issue. While women have equal access to birth registration in law, in practice oftentimes the equality is not there.

Kyrgyzstan

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Law