Press Releases

Statelessness Roundtable brought issues of stateless people closer for representatives of NGO and media

Almaty- On 15 December 2011, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) conducted a Regional Roundtable on "Joint Actions to Address Statelessness in Central Asia". More than 50 representatives of media, NGO, academia and state authorities gathered in Almaty to discuss statelessness in Central Asia. Delegations of Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan were exposed to presentations on topics such as " Statelessness in Central Asia: General Overview of the Situation and Main Challenges", "International legal instruments to address statelessness". Country representatives exposed their success stories and challenges they face in combating statelessness. 

"The issue of statelessness remain a challenge for the States, but especially for the stateless people themselves. They are deprived of the basic right of having a defined and recognized nationality. They do not have access to education, health care, job market and ability to travel. Children of stateless people can not be registered, attend school or benefit from proper juvenile care. On the territory of the former USSR, they are usually holders of old Soviet passports, who did not claim their nationality on time for various reasons after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The first step in combating statelessness is to accede to the international Conventions which give a tool on helping the undocumented persons in a country. In this regards I would like to stress that Turkmenistan is an excellent example to follow by other countries. Recently over 3,000 stateless people of 18 years and above were given Turkmen nationality, members of their family below the age of 18 were also granted citizenship; Turkmenistan was the first Central Asian country which acceded recently to the 1954 Convention on Status of Stateless People. This Roundtable allowed seeing the issue of statelessness from different perspectives and developing certain suggested actions by the main actors: governments, NGOs and media" - underlined Mr. Saber Azam, UNHCR Regional Representative/Regional Coordinator for Central Asia.

On August 30, 2011 the 1961 Convention on Reduction of Statelessness entered its 50th years. However, statelessness remains a complex issue in many countries of the world. UNHCR estimates that there are up to 12 million stateless people in the world, but defining exact numbers is hugely problematic. Inconsistent reporting combined with different definitions of statelessness means the true scale of the problem remains elusive. To overcome this UNHCR is raising awareness about the international legal definition while improving its own methods for gathering data on stateless populations.