Central Asian Network on Statelessness and Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion Joint Submission to the Human Rights Council at the 35th Session of the Universal Periodic Review Kyrgyzstan Introduction 1. The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI) and Central Asian Network on Statelessness (CANS) make this joint submission to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), on the right to a nationality and human rights challenges pertaining to statelessness in Kyrgyzstan. 2. This submission focuses on former USSR passport holders in Kyrgyzstan, so-called “Border Brides”, Refugee Status Determination Procedures, Deprivation of Citizenship and Birth Registration. 3. ISI1 is an independent non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting an integrated, human rights-based response to the injustice of statelessness and exclusion. Established in August 2014, it is the first and only global centre committed to promoting the human rights of stateless persons and ending statelessness. The Institute has made over 40 country specific UPR submissions on the human rights of stateless persons, and also compiled summaries of the key human rights challenges related to statelessness in all countries under review under the 23rd to the 34th UPR Sessions. 4. CANS is a network launched in June 2016, with a membership of 11 NGOs and activists working in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. CANS works to prevent and reduce statelessness through: Legal aid and protection, in particular by pursuing landmark legal precedents for the entire country; advocacy efforts for legislative amendments and closing legislative gaps in order to prevent any new cases of statelessness from occurring; and actively contributing to and promoting good practices for the protection of stateless people in the Central Asia region. Kyrgyzstan's Universal Periodic Review Under the First and Second Cycle 5. Kyrgyzstan was previously reviewed during the 8th session in 2010 and the 21st session in 2015. 6. In its State Report before its previous Universal Periodic Review in 2015,2 Kyrgyzstan provided the following examples of action taken to protect stateless persons: I. 1 2 Paragraph 33 of the State Report provides that: For more information about the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, see: www.institutesi.org. A/HRC/WG.6/21/KGZ/1 1