1. Lack of Legal Safeguards Against Childhood Statelessness
Turkmenistan’s citizenship legislation does not provide access to citizenship for children born to two stateless parents either of whom do not qualify as habitual residents of the territory.[62] This lack of protection enhances the risk of intergenerational statelessness. For children born to two stateless persons within the territory, the child will be a citizen if at least one parent is habitually resident in the territory.[63] The Law also provides that a child born in the territory to two foreign citizen parents who is not granted citizenship of the state(s) of the parents citizenship, will be a citizen of Turkmenistan. [64] Article 11(1)(7) additionally requires that the parents be habitually resident in the territory. [65] Foundling children born or resident in Turkmenistan will also be citizens provided that the whereabouts and citizenship of the parents are unknown. [66]Further, if a citizen of Turkmenistan is found to be the father of a child with a stateless mother, the child will be a citizen regardless of birthplace.[67]
2. Citizenship Stripping
Article 4 of Turkmenistan’s citizenship law states that citizens cannot be deprived of their citizenship.[68]Likewise, Article 17 sets out two grounds for loss of Turkmen citizenship: (i) taking up military service or employment in the security, police, justice, diplomatic services or other state bodies of a foreign country; and (ii) obtaining citizenship based on deliberately false information or forged documents. Both grounds operate without any protection against rendering the person stateless. [69] Article 30 further provides that presidential resolutions are the instrument through which loss of citizenship under Article 17 is formally effected.[70]Appealing other decisions relating to nationality is possible by lodging a complaint addressed to the President of Turkmenistan, who may revise the decision.[71]
Likewise, Article 38 states that refusal to accept applications, untimely processing, and other official acts violating procedure may be appealed to a higher official or in court.[72]
3. Administrative Barriers
In July 2020, the new Law on Civil Status Acts, came into force ensuring universal birth registration and prevention of childhood statelessness.[73] Before the introduction of the Law, children born to parents who were undocumented, stateless, or who had undetermined nationalities had low access to birth registration due to the requirement of parents to show documentation to register their child’s birth. [74] Turkmenistan’s reported birth registration rate is 99.9%.[75] The UNICEF Turkmenistan Country Programme 2021-2025 evaluation highlights strong alignment with national priorities, successful legislative improvements in birth registration, and effective capacity building for local institutions. [76] It calls for translating these outputs into sustainable, locally financed infrastructure and addressing urban-rural disparities in the next programming cycle. [77]
The Law of Turkmenistan on Citizenship states that citizenship certifying documents in Turkmenistan are a passport of a citizen of Turkmenistan or another government-issued document confirming nationality.[78]For children under 16, nationality can be confirmed by either a birth certificate or passport of one of their parents who is a citizen of Turkmenistan.[79] Therefore, while birth registration is not required in all cases to gain citizenship in Turkmenistan, it is important to have it in the event of loss of passport and for children under 16 who have not yet applied for their passport. On this, reports of state authorities requesting citizens to give up their passports is problematic for ensuring everyone in the country has the necessary documentation to certify citizenship. [80]Human Rights Watch and civil society groups have documented widespread administrative non-renewal and confiscation of passports, particularly targeting Turkmen citizens abroad (such as in Türkiye), creating risks of de facto undocumented status.[81] In Lebap province in particular, state authorities also reportedly urged state employees to refrain from applying for a passport. [82] Independent investigative outlets (such as Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty’s Turkmen Service Azatlyk, and Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights) have repeatedly reported localized directives in regions like Lebap, where public sector employees face informal or official pressures not to request foreign travel passports. [83] In some cases, passports have also been confiscated by employers without providing explanation for the confiscation. [84]Multiple international human rights monitors have documented forced document retention and arbitrary passport confiscations by state enterprise management, local administration offices, or migration personnel without formal statutory justifications.[85]
