Law

1. Citizenship Law

a. Jus sanguinis and jus soli Provisions

In Tajikistan, both jus sanguinis and jus soli provisions are included in the main legislative instrument for citizenship and nationality. According to the Constitutional Law of the Republic of Tajikistan on Nationality of the Republic of Tajikistan, if a child is born to at least one citizen of Tajikistan, they will be a citizen regardless of birthplace. For children born on the territory of Tajikistan where one parent is a citizen and the other holds a different citizenship, there are no additional requirements. However, if the child is born outside the territory, they must have at least one parent with permanent residence in Tajikistan in order to be eligible for citizenship. If neither of the parents have permanent residence, a written agreement is required from the parents. To ensure that the child does not become stateless as a result of a disagreement between the parents, the law stipulates that if an agreement has not been reached within three months of the child’s birth, the child will be considered a national of the Republic if not granted nationality of another state.

The Constitutional Law 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. The Law also states in Article 6 that stateless persons are encouraged to acquire citizenship of Tajikistan.

b. Naturalized Citizenship

Foreign citizens and stateless persons alike have the right to apply for nationality in Tajikistan. In order to do so, one must have permanent continuous residence in Tajikistan for five years, be able to communicate in the state language, and have no criminal prosecution. There is a simplified procedure for naturalization open to both foreigners and stateless persons who have outstanding achievements, are former USSR citizens, or are a child or incapacitated person who is in state custody or guardianship. A 2008 amendment to the Constitutional Law removed access to this simplified procedure for refugees. While some stateless persons can still access this procedure, UNHCR recommends that the Republic of Tajikistan ensure that it is open to refugees as well.

Stateless persons who are ineligible for naturalization through the simplified procedure can apply for naturalization at half the required period of permanent residence. UNHCR recommends that the requirement of permanent residence be removed for the process of naturalization for stateless persons to further expedite the process.

In 2019, the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan On Amnesty Related to Legalization of Stateless Persons and Foreign Nationals Illegally Residing in the Territory of the Republic of Tajikistan was passed, which includes provisions for foreign nationals and stateless persons to legalize and regularize their status. The new Law provided the opportunity for stateless persons to obtain residence permits, resolve complex cases of statelessness, and a possibility of gaining citizenship in just three years. However, an expiration date was placed on this new Amnesty Law for December of 2022, which UNHCR recommends that the Republic of Tajikistan extend to provide more people affected by statelessness the opportunity to address their legal status.

c. Dual Citizenship

The Constitution states that only Tajik citizenship of dual citizens will be recognized unless covered by a treaty recognizing dual citizenship of the specific state/s. For a foreign citizen to obtain citizenship of Tajikistan, they must include proof of renunciation of previous citizenship in the application for citizenship, leaving them vulnerable to become stateless if the Republic of Tajikistan rejects their application for citizenship.

2. Treaty Ratification Status

Article 3 of the Constitutional Law of the Republic of Tajikistan on Nationality of the Republic of Tajikistan states that both “the present Constitutional Law and international treaties of Tajikistan shall be applied” for issues pertaining to nationality of the Republic of Tajikistan.

While Tajikistan 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. Tajikistan has made no reservation in the ratification of these treaties.

In 2018, the CEDAW Committee in its concluding observations expressed concerns regarding the marginalization and high rate of statelessness among women and their disproportionate lack of access to social and economic services. As a party to CEDAW, Tajikistan is obligated to ensure gender equality in nationality laws. While there are no discriminatory provisions in Tajikistan’s legislation, data suggests that implementation has not resulted in equality. Included in the 2023 concluding observations by the CERD Committee were concerns about the 2011 Family Code which places discriminatory regulations on foreigners and stateless persons marrying Tajik women. By ratifying the ICERD, Tajikistan has committed to ensure no discrimination based on nationality or legal status.

Under the CRC, Tajikistan is also bound to ensure that every child is registered immediately at birth. While recent improvements in legislation have significantly improved access to birth registration in rural areas, the Republic should monitor the implementation to ensure that birth registration rates continue to increase and become more equal in accessibility.

Tajikistan is one of only four states globally to have 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.

Status of Accession Of International Human Rights Treaties

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

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

1. Reported Stateless Persons

In 2022, there were 5,391 reported stateless persons in Tajikistan, which is a decrease of 719 stateless persons from the reported population in 2021. However, the reported population has overall increased by 775 people since the beginning of 2019.

Like all countries in Central Asia, Tajikistan has been directly affected by the disintegration of the USSR which left millions on the wrong side of the borders of fifteen new successor states. Those who have not yet gained citizenship of Tajikistan after the disintegration make up a major portion of the reported stateless population in Tajikistan. Further, Tajikistan experienced a civil war throughout the 1990s that caused economic and political hardship and resulted in displacement that left some people stateless. Statelessness in Tajikistan is also partly attributed to legislative and administrative gaps.

While Tajikistan has launched identification campaigns across different regions of the country, insufficient infrastructure in the country has presented a major challenge for identifying individuals affected by statelessness. This is especially problematic due to the fact that the majority of stateless communities in Tajikistan live in remote border areas. Official statistics on stateless persons in Tajikistan only includes individuals who have a permanent residence permit as well as an official document verifying their stateless status.

Women make up 65% of the reported stateless population in Tajikistan, which has been noted to be a result of women disproportionately lacking valid identity documents compared to men. Male family members tend to be the first to receive the limited resources available to rural families where rates of statelessness are higher.

Reported stateless persons to the UNHCR Country 2019 (year start

Country	2019 (year start)	2020 (year end)	2021 (year end)	2022 (year end)
Tajikistan	4,616	6,385	6,110	5,391

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

2. Persons at Risk of Statelessness

Populations at risk of statelessness in Tajikistan include foreign citizens who are in the process of applying for citizenship of the Republic, children born to stateless parents or parents with undetermined nationality who do not have permanent residence. Tajikistan also hosts some of the Lyuli/Mughat ethnic group, recognized in Tajikistan as the Roma/Jughi, who face socioeconomic discrimination and barriers to social services which increase their risk of statelessness.

3. Tajikistan’s Pledges to End Statelessness

Tajikistan made four pledges pertaining to statelessness at the High-Level Segment on Statelessness in 2019.The pledges included committing to consider legalization of persons illegally residing in Tajikistan (Amnesty Law), reform the Civil Registration System and ensure safeguards for universal child birth registration, consider ratification of the 1954 and 1961 Conventions on statelessness, and “explore the scale of statelessness through identification of persons at risk of statelessness, stateless persons and persons with undetermined nationality.

On this, Tajikistan has successfully enacted a new Amnesty Law and reform the Civil Registration System, but did not follow through in ratifying the Conventions on statelessness or improving its identification of stateless persons. One of the key protection issues, challenges, and recommendations included in Tajikistan’s 2021 UPR submission was universal birth registration. It was noted that parents who lack identity documents may have difficulty registering their child’s birth in practice. Recommendations on this include amending the Law on Civil Registration to ensure there are no barriers for parents without identity documents and “raise awareness of the importance of birth registration and birth certificates, especially in rural areas”.

Causes of Statelessness

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.

Tajikistan

Overview

Law