Central Asian Network on Statelessness

CANS is a network of 15 organizations within the 5 countries of the Central Asia region, that collectively work towards direct dialogue for the exchange of information and experience in order to prevent and reduce statelessness, as well as working towards the development of the institution of citizenship in the region. Network has a two major mission goals: (1) support the Governments to improve its national institutes of citizenship and protection system against statelessness and (2) seek pathways towards solutions of the real cases of stateless people. Based on this, the organization implements the following activities: • Legal aid and protection, in particular setting landmark legal precedents of resolution of statelessness cases for the entire country; • Advocacy efforts for legislative amendments and closing legislative gaps in order to prevent any new cases of statelessness from occurring; • Increasing the capacity of government agencies; • Actively contributing to and promoting the best practices of liquidation of statelessness in Central Asia region.The Central Asian Network on Statelessness (CANS) has successfully strengthened advocacy efforts by uniting civil society and academia in Central Asia and becoming a trusted partner of UNHCR. CANS’s top priority is to amplify the voices of stateless communities, ensuring those with lived experiences are central to decision-making processes. Beyond Kyrgyzstan’s nationwide statelessness identification and reduction campaign—which culminated in 2019 with the historic achievement of resolving all known cases of statelessness within its borders—CANS and its members have driven significant progress across the region. Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan have conducted mass campaigns to resolve statelessness, while Tajikistan’s amnesty law and Uzbekistan’s new progressive citizenship law have positively impacted tens of thousands of lives. Over the past decade, statelessness in Central Asia has been reduced from 200,000 to 38,000 people, accounting for one in three resolved cases globally. This progress was made possible through the political will of governments and coordinated multi-stakeholder action at the grassroots level. However, new challenges are emerging, potentially creating additional cases of statelessness. There remains much work to be done to establish strong safeguards and improve national systems to prevent statelessness. As part of the Global Alliance and SDCC, CANS is committed to supporting Central Asian states in ratifying the Statelessness Conventions, strengthening statelessness determination procedures, and aligning national laws with international standards to prevent future cases.