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UNHCR and Partners organize a Roundtable on Statelessness in Kazakhstan

ASTANA, Kazakhstan.  November 15, 2016  (UNHCR) -  The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Kazakhstan, Akimat of Mangystau region and Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law (KIBHR) jointly organized a Roundtable on Statelessness in Aktau, Mangystau region of Kazakhstan. The Roundtable brought together twenty-five participants from the Senate of the Parliament of Kazakhstan, Human Rights Commission under the President, regional administration, migration and border authorities, departments of justice, civil society organizations, academia, mass media and UNHCR.    

As of today, Kazakhstan hosts 6,876 stateless persons officially registered by the government, and 1,553 persons with undetermined nationality identified by UNHCR legal partners, KIBHR and Sana Sezim. The intention to find solutions to statelessness led to cooperation between the UNHCR and the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the framework of the UN-Government joint programme “Expanding the opportunities of the Mangystau region in achieving sustainable development and socio-economic modernization”. UNHCR and the Government focused their efforts on analysis of the national legislation related to citizenship and statelessness and practice of implementation. As a result, the Working Group developed a set of practical recommendations aimed at improvement of national legislation to bring it in compliance with international standards.  

The Roundtable follows up on a number of initiatives to address statelessness that have been implemented in 2015-2016. These include information campaigns aimed at identification of stateless persons and persons with undetermined nationality, awareness raising exercises for government officials, NGOs and mass media, meetings of the Working Group on revision of the national legislation related to citizenship and statelessness.    

The discussion during the Roundtable explored the pertinence of 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness in the context of Kazakhstan. The participants examined the definition of “stateless person” in the national legislation which is not consistent with the definition provided in the 1954 Convention and leads to the situations when persons may remain stateless for many years without having their situation solved. The discussions further invoked obligations in international human rights law beyond those contained in the 1954 Convention, particularly with respect to guaranteeing a child’s right to a nationality as enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The participants discussed the recommendations for improvement of the national legislation and the best practices of prevention and reduction of statelessness in the world. 

The Roundtable concluded with the passport delivery ceremony. 32 year-old Gennady, an undocumented person from Zhanaozen town of Mangystau region of Kazakhstan, who had no identity documents since he was a child, received his first identity document in Kazakhstan. 

The participants committed to promote the improvement of the national legislation related to nationality and practice in Kazakhstan and work together towards the global goal to eliminate statelessness.