News

UNHCR Continues Support to Turkmenistan on Asylum and Statelessness

UNHCR organized and facilitated, in cooperation with experts from Belarus and Georgia, a three-day Workshop in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, on 11-13 May 2016. The event, attended by over 20 Government officials from the State Migration Service and State Border Service, was composed of two sessions, one dedicated to registration and profiling of asylum-seekers at the border, the other to the statelessness status determination procedures.

Experts from the State Border Committee of the Republic of Belarus shared achievements and practices on the identification, registration, profiling and referral of asylum-seekers from the border through the cooperation with international organizations. The event provided an opportunities for the Government officials, UNHCR and experts from Belarus to discuss the possibility and practical way forward towards developing a national referral mechanism for asylum-seekers from border areas.

Experts from Georgia presented the example of a practical implementation of the statelessness status determination procedures in the country. The statelessness status, if granted to a person without nationality, affords the person with a basic set of rights to preserve his or her human dignity. UNHCR highlighted the fact that Turkmenistan is a leading example in Central Asia,, being the only country which acceded to both the international conventions on statelessness. Moreover, more than 5,000 stateless persons received Turkmen citizenship in the last eight years. The next step for the country is to establish a statelessness status determination procedures, which foresees regularization of rights of stateless persons.

UNHCR continues working with the Government of Turkmenistan, which has rich experiences in both asylum and statelessness issues.