In the Dashoguz region in the city of Kunyaurgench, together with employees of the National Red Crescent Society of Turkmenistan, representatives of the Migration Service, together with employees of the Municipality, with employees from military units, volunteers of the NRCST, an event was held on the topic: “Legal assistance to undocumented persons and stateless persons". During event, it was discussed that several years ago, under the auspices of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Global Campaign to End Statelessness was launched.
Today there are about 10 million people in the world who are not citizens of any state. These people are deprived of basic rights and privileges. Every ten minutes, a stateless child is born somewhere in the world.Turkmenistan adopted its first refugee law in 1997 before acceding to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees on 2 March 1998.
On March 4, 1998, the Government of Turkmenistan and UNHCR signed a Cooperation Agreement. Under the Agreement, UNHCR is empowered to fulfill its core purpose of protecting the rights and well-being of refugees and asylum seekers and helping refugees find durable solutions. Currently, determination of refugee status is carried out by UNHCR in accordance with the UNHCR Statutes, the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 New York Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees.
Turkmenistan is the only Central Asian country to have acceded to the Conventions related to statelessness. In January 2019, the Government adopted the National Action Plan to Eliminate Statelessness (2018-2024) to assist already identified stateless persons and provide appropriate guarantees to prevent statelessness, including the establishment of procedures to determine the status of stateless persons. UNHCR is providing technical support for the smooth implementation of the National Action Plan and has initiated dialogue with relevant authorities to determine the actual number of stateless persons in the country during the 2022 national census.
