Kazakhstan Regional Office

Working environment

• Following the currency devaluation in the second half of 2015, prices for goods and services in Kazakhstan soared. Vulnerable populations, including refugees, asylum-seekers and stateless persons, were particularly affected.
• Border controls in Kazakhstan were tightened in 2015 due to national security concerns.
• Discussions on improving the national asylum legislation to ensure access to permanent residency and naturalization procedures for refugees were ongoing.

Population trends

• Approximately 700 refugees and 100 asylum-seekers were registered in Kazakhstan in 2015, the majority of whom originated from Afghanistan, followed by Uzbekistan and Syria.
• ​Opportunities for voluntary repatriation continued to be limited for refugees due to the volatile situation in their countries of origin. In 2015, only eight refugees voluntarily returned to Afghanistan. 
• Over 7,900 stateless people resided in Kazakhstan in 2015, of which some 6,880 were officially recognized as stateless by the Government. The remaining 1,000 were registered by UNHCR’s legal partner as individuals with undetermined nationality.

Achievements and impact    

• Capacity-building activities conducted by UNHCR led to progress in ensuring fair access to asylum procedures in Kazakhstan.
• The Government of Kazakhstan adopted a new health regulation in 2015 that provided all persons of concern to UNHCR with access to free healthcare, following continued advocacy efforts by UNHCR.
• Awareness-raising sessions on sexual and gender-based violence prevention and response were conducted for persons of concern to strengthen community engagement; there were no reported incidents of SGBV in 2015.
• New rules on the issuance of travel documents for refugees were adopted in 2015, pending distribution by year end. 
• Over 1,330 people with undetermined nationality were identified by UNHCR’s partners in Kazakhstan as a result of awareness-raising campaigns and increasingly efficient referral systems. Approximately 200 individuals received assistance to confirm their nationality. According to additional information released by authorities, over 8,700 people acquired their Kazakh citizenship through citizenship determination/confirmation procedures, and some 1,000 individuals were recognized as stateless.
• The Government created a working group to revise the national legislation related to citizenship and statelessness, in which UNHCR continued to advocate for the amendment of certain provisions to reduce the risk statelessness. Initial findings from the working group were presented at the end of 2015 and a comprehensive gap analysis, including recommendations for legislative reform, will be shared with Parliament in 2016.

Unmet needs

• Due to funding shortfalls, financial assistance provided by UNHCR to vulnerable persons of concern was insufficient and did not cover all basic needs; however UNHCR will try to move away from individual assistance and more funds will be allocated to strengthen livelihood opportunities. 
• A sharp rise in the price of medicines (85-100 per cent) and health services (20-30 per cent) in 2015, coupled with an increase in the number of persons of concern in need of medical attention, meant that UNHCR was unable to cover all health needs.