SUB-REGIONAL OVERVIEW: CENTRAL ASIA SUB-REGIONAL OVERVIEW: CENTRAL ASIA TABLE 15 Reported stateless persons to the UNHCR Country Turkmenistan 2019 (year start)680 2020 (year end)681 2021 (year end)682 2022 (year end)683 4,714 3,924 4,280 4,527 Source: UNHCR, Global Trends: Forced Displacement from 2019-2022. a decrease by 187 people since the beginning of 2019.684 These reported numbers have been derived from reports from UNHCR partners in Turkmenistan because UNHCR does not have an office in Turkmenistan and there are no official statistics available on the stateless population.685 With the dissolution of the USSR, millions of people across Central Asia became stateless as a result of loss of USSR citizenship.686 Today, many of the reported stateless population in Turkmenistan is made up of individuals who have not been able to obtain citizenship of the new successor state.687 Unfortunately, due to lack of freedom of information and the absence of a UNHCR office in Turkmenistan, both qualitative and quantitative data on statelessness in the country is limited.688 Persons at risk of statelessness There have been multiple reports of state authorities ordering citizens of Turkmenistan to give up their passports and not apply for new ones as an attempt to restrict freedom of movement by the government.689 This could place people at risk of statelessness considering that the main citizenship certifying document in Turkmenistan is the passport.690 Causes of Statelessness Lack of legal safeguards against childhood statelessness Turkmenistan’s citizenship legislation does not provide access to citizenship for children born to 64 two stateless parents either of whom do not qualify as habitual residents of the territory.691 This lack of protection enhances the risk of intergenerational statelessness. For children born to two stateless persons within the territory, the child will be a citizen if at least one parent is habitually resident in the territory.692 The Law also provides that a child born in the territory to two foreign citizen parents who is not granted citizenship of the state(s) of the parents citizenship, will be a citizen of Turkmenistan.693 Foundling children born or resident in Turkmenistan will also be citizens provided that the whereabouts and citizenship of the parents are unknown.694 Further, if a citizen of Turkmenistan is found to be the father of a child with a stateless mother, the child will be a citizen regardless of birthplace.695 statelessness.698 Before the introduction of the Law, children born to parents who were undocumented, stateless, or who had undetermined nationalities had low access to birth registration due to the requirement of parents to show documentation to register their child’s birth.699 Turkmenistan’s reported birth registration rate is 99.9%700. The Constitution states that citizenship certifying documents in Turkmenistan are a passport of a citizen of Turkmenistan or another governmentissued document confirming nationality.701 For children under 16, nationality can be confirmed by either a birth certificate or passport of one of their parents who is a citizen of Turkmenistan.702 Therefore, while birth registration is not required in all cases to gain citizenship in Turkmenistan, it is important to have it in the event of loss of passport and for children under 16 who have not yet applied for their passport. On this, reports of state authorities requesting citizens to give up their passports is problematic for ensuring everyone in the country has the necessary documentation to certify citizenship.703 In Lebap province in particular, state authorities also reportedly urged state employees to refrain from applying for a passport.704 In some cases, passports have also been confiscated by employers without providing explanation for the confiscation.705 The Constitution states that citizenship certifying documents in Turkmenistan are a passport of a citizen of Turkmenistan or another government-issued document confirming nationality While birth registration is not required in all cases to gain citizenship in Turkmenistan, it is important to have it in the event of loss of passport and for children under 16 who have not yet applied for their passport. Turkmenistan’s citizenship legislation does not provide access to citizenship for children born to two stateless parents either of whom do not qualify as habitual residents of the territory. Citizenship stripping Article 4 of Turkmenistan’s citizenship law states that citizens cannot be deprived of their citizenship.696 Appealing other decisions relating to nationality is possible by lodging a complaint addressed to the President of Turkmenistan, who may revise the decision.697 Administrative barriers In January 2020, the new Law on Civil Status Acts, came into force ensuring universal birth registration and prevention of childhood STATELESSNESS ENCYCLOPEDIA ASIA PACIFIC (DETAILED VERSION) REPORT 2024 65