News

Turkmenistan becomes the first country in Сentral Asia which accedes to the 1954 Convention

On December 7-8, 2011 during the ministerial meeting in Geneva, it was officially announced that Turkmenistan acceded to the Convention of 1954 relating to the status of stateless persons. Thus, Turkmenistan became the first country in Central Asia which acceded to the 1954 Stateless Convention.

This was also marked by giving citizenship, through Presidential Decrees, to over 3,000 stateless persons of 18 years and above as a result of joint effort undertaken by State Migration Services, an NGO partner and UNHCR within the framework of the "Action Plan for Joint Activities on Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness in Turkmenistan".

On August 4, 2011 the Parliament of Turkmenistan approved a regulation on accession to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. The process of acceding to the Convention took about five months, and the last stage was completed before the Ministerial meeting.

The statelessness remained a very sensitive issue in Turkmenistan; however UNHCR promoted accession to the Convention overcoming a long way. The advocacy on accession to the Statelessness Convention started in 1999, when the Office sent a package of information and documents on accession to the 1954 and 1961 Statelessness Conventions to the Government of Turkmenistan, accompanied by a letter of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The issue of accession to the Conventions has continued to be on UNHCR's agenda during many meetings with the government partners and resulted in approving the Action Plan for Joint Activities on Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness in Turkmenistan in December 2010.

"I would like to express gratitude to the Government of Turkmenistan and underline that accession to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons is displaying a strong commitment of the country to meet international standards and norms, reinforce core international protection principles and ensure a new dynamics in fruitful cooperation of the Government of Turkmenistan and UNHCR. In 2005 the Government has generously granted citizenship to a significant number of Tajik refugees and already in July of this year over 1,500 stateless persons also became Turkmen citizens. Now we speak of over 3,000 additional persons who were granted citizenship; in their country, Turkmenistan, they hope for a better life, an opportunity to basic social services, such as education, health care and ability to travel" - said Mr. Saber Azam, UNHCR Regional Representative/Regional Coordinator for Central Asia.