Central Asia

Operational environment

 The number of new asylum-seekers in the sub-region remains relatively modest – between 700-1000 every year- but regular. The total numbers of refugees and statelessness persons in each country are decreasing. Steady progress has been achieved on the statelessness front.  Currently the region hosts 113,786 stateless persons, with the majority (85,868 persons) in Uzbekistan. By the end of 2018, the estimated number of refugees will be 4,600 (of which 96 per cent are Afghans) and estimated number of stateless persons 110,000.  Meanwhile, there are 3,628 refugees in Central Asia, including 518 mandate refugees as of July 2017.  Majority of the refugees are in Tajikistan (2,612).   
 
Migration to and from the Russian Federation and within the region remains a preoccupation of the countries with added security concerns. Central Asian countries are also transit countries for migrants and refugees on the move to Europe and beyond.  While the countries have relatively developed legal frameworks for asylum, they continue to seek to strike a right balance between protection of asylum-seekers and refugees and security measures.
 
The governments of the region have been making efforts to prevent and reduce statelessness through the granting of citizenship and providing documentation to those who hitherto identified without any legal status. However, security concerns drove the governments of Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz republic to amend its constitutions to allow deprivation of citizenship on the ground of links to terrorism or extremism and national security concerns. 

Response and implementation

 Over the past years, the focus of UNHCR’s operations has shifted from direct assistance to refugees to advocacy, capacity building and preparedness.  
 
To reflect this direction, UNHCR’s regional strategy 2016-2018 for Central Asia aims at supporting the governments in three areas: enhancement of asylum systems, solutions for refugees and stateless persons and emergency preparedness.
 
On the asylum front, robust efforts will be made towards legal reforms, ensuring unimpeded access to the territory, fair asylum procedures, protection-sensitive border management and referral mechanisms with use of the Almaty Process as a platform for engagement on refugee protection.
 
UNHCR’s work on statelessness will have two dimensions. First, it will continue to advocate for the confirming or granting citizenship and providing documentation to those who are entitled to it and granting statelessness status to those that have no nationality. Since 2014, UNHCR assisted 33,000 individuals to resolve statelessness by the end of September 2017 together with partner agencies.  These efforts will be continued in 2018-2019. Second, it will work closely with the governments to further improve the existing legal frameworks on citizenship.   
 
Refugees recognized under government procedures have clear legal status and enjoy generally access to social services. However, refugees recognized under UNHCR mandate, while largely tolerated, lack legal status and limited access to services. UNHCR has already shifted its engagement from direct refugee status determination (RSD) to capacity-building and support for the governments’ own RSD processes. UNHCR will continue to work with the government to explore alternative ways to ensure legal status for the remaining 518 mandate refugees by the end of 2019.
 
Given the volatile nature of the region, especially the countries bordering Afghanistan, UNHCR will continue to support the relevant government authorities to enhance its preparedness in case of refugee influx. Key elements continue to be access to territory, admission and reception.