1. Lack of Legal Safeguards Against Childhood Statelessness
Jus soli provisions mean that children born to stateless parents in the territory of the Republic will be citizens by birth. However, the Law does not provide for situations where a child is born in the territory to one stateless parent and one parent who is a foreign citizen. While there are protections for children born to stateless parents, there are no provisions specifically for children born in Uzbekistan who may otherwise be stateless. Further, children born to one stateless parent and one foreign parent in the territory are specifically excluded from citizenship and will become stateless if not eligible for another nationality. Foundling children will also gain citizenship if their parents are unknown, however UNHCR has noted that the language of this provision may indicate that children who may know some information about their parents, but are nonetheless unable to acquire citizenship through them, will not gain citizenship. Gaps in protection also exist for children of one or both parents who are undocumented due to potential difficulties in registering the birth of the child without full documentation.
2. Citizenship Stripping
A citizen of the Republic may lose their citizenship on the grounds of enlisting in the state authorities of a different state, failing to register with the permanent consulate register within seven years without valid reasons while living abroad, providing false information in application for citizenship, causing “substantial harm to the interests of society and state,” or acquiring citizenship of a foreign state. While the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan guarantees the right to appeal, safeguards should be made for Uzbek citizens living abroad who have not registered at a consulate in the last seven years who will be stateless if stripped of their Uzbek nationality and do not have another nationality. Foreign citizens who do not have ascendent links to the country and are applying for citizenship are not eligible for the simplified procedure which includes legal safeguards protecting against statelessness throughout the process of naturalization as a result of renunciation of foreign citizenship.
3. Administrative Barriers
Uzbek law states that a citizenship certifying document can be a passport of a citizen of the Republic or any document indicating citizenship of the Republic. Medical birth certificates are required for birth registration for children and, inturn, for applying for admission to citizenship of Uzbekistan. For stateless adults applying, a birth certificate is required if they are applying through the simplified procedure.
The birth registration rate in Uzbekistan stands at 100%. Birth registration is carried out by the Registration of Acts of Civil Status, as stipulated by the Decision of the Cabinet of Ministers on Approving the Rules of Registration of Acts of Civil Status. The Decision provides that all births must be registered “at the place of birth or at the place of permanent or temporary residence of parents or one of the parents”. A 2020 amendment to the Decision provided further safeguards for registration at birth for those without permanent residence in Uzbekistan at the time of birth.
Despite Uzbekistan’s high birth registration rate, undocumented parents could still face barriers in registering their child’s birth with parents required to show documentation in order to register the birth of their child. Provisions do exist for allowing parents to register their child’s birth without documentation “on the basis of a written request from a medical institution or from social services”. However, this requirement could still present an obstacle to undocumented parents registering their child’s birth, which could lead to the child becoming stateless. The Decision (mentioned above) also includes a provision specifically ensuring prompt registration of the births of foundling children. If one parent is undocumented, the Decision provides that registration of the child’s birth will require a marriage certificate preceding child’s birth registration, which does not protect, for example, undocumented single mothers.
