UNHCR does not have information on stateless persons’ access to legal remedies in Uzbekistan. In the other four States, it seems that remedies that are widely available and free of charge are usually of poor quality. Legal remedies of good quality are mostly too expensive for stateless persons. In northern Kyrgyzstan, for instance, participants in the focus group organised by UNHCR’s NGO partners said that they had unrestricted access to legal aid. Local NGOs, however, pointed out that good legal assistance was scarce in rural areas. In the south, participants said that legal remedies were available, but too expensive to afford. Legal clinics operating in the field remain the most effective channel for free legal aid to stateless persons. In Turkmenistan, one of UNHCR’s implementing partners gives legal assistance to stateless persons, among other people of concern. They report there are no obstacles of principle to prevent stateless persons accessing courts in Turkmenistan, on the same footing as nationals. 4.7 Expulsion Each of the five Central Asian States reserves the right to expel stateless persons in accordance with a procedure set down in law.332 As indicated below, grounds for expulsion are generally quite broad. Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan set an age limit of 16 years, below which stateless persons cannot be expeled, but there are no age limits in the other States.333 In determining these cases, none of the five States recognises family unity as a guiding principle. An undocumented child could face insurmountable problems confirming his or her nationality if the parents were expeled and left them behind. The same could be true where only one of the parents is expeled together with the child and the child does not carry a birth certificate. None of the five states gives the person under an expulsion order the right to seek legal admission to another country. To be expeled from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan334, stateless persons and other foreigners must have commited an ‘administrative offence’, although the law in Uzbekistan does not elaborate upon what these offences are. 335 Grounds common to Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan are ‘violations of public order’ and considerations of ‘national security’. Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan may also expel stateless persons on additional grounds, that include threatening ‘public health and morals’, violating currency and customs rules, and infringing the need to protect public ‘rights and interests’.336 The 2005 Migration Law foresees administrative expulsion for foreigners and stateless who ‘repeatedly or seriously violate the legislation of Turkmenistan’.337 332 The procedure is set down in the 1993 Turkmenistan Law ‘On the Legal Status of Foreigners’, as amended in 2000; the 1996 Regulation No 408 ‘On the Entrance, Exit, Stay and Transit of Foreigners and Persons without Citizenship in the Republic of Uzbekistan’, as amended by Order No 178, 1999; and in the Administrative Codes of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Tajikistan also sets down procedural rules in the 1997 Law No 500 ‘On the Legal Status of Foreigners’, as amended in 2009. 333 Article 39, 1998 Kyrgyzstan Code of Administrative Responsibility, No 114, as amended in 2007. Uzbekistan absolves individuals under 16 years old of responsibility for administrative offences. Article 271(2), Chapter 19, 1995 Administrative Code of Uzbekistan, No ZRU-242, as amended in 2009; Article 12(e) of Annex 2, 1996 Regulation No 408 ‘On the Entrance, Exit, Stay and Transit of Foreigners and Persons without Citizenship in the Republic of Uzbekistan’ also frees foreigners under 16 of the rules of registration. 334 Article 23, Chapter 3, Section 2, 1995 Administrative Code of Uzbekistan, No ZRU-242, as amended in 2009. In the 2001 Kazakhstan Administrative Code, these are unregistered missionary activities (Article 375), violating the rules for crossing state borders (Article 391) and violating the rules of sojourn in the country (Article 394). 335 In Uzbekistan there is no law governing the expulsion of foreigners. Expulsion and extradition are regulated by bilateral agreement, which may allow the expulsion of aliens, even to countries where they risk torture. In April 2005, the UN Human Rights Committee said that Uzbekistan should adopt norms to prevent the deportation or forcible return of aliens to a country where they would risk torture, and adopt a mechanism to appeal against forced removal, with suspensive effect, see Human Rights Committee, Concluding Observations: Uzbekistan, CCPR/CO/83/UZB. 336 Article 46 of the 2009 Administrative Code of Tajikistan; Article 18, 2005 Migration Law of Turkmenistan, as amended in 2011, and several equivalent articles of the 1995 Law ‘On the Legal Status of Foreigners’ in Kazakhstan. The 1997 Migration Law of Kazakhstan also provides for the expulsion of stateless persons who have arrived on State territory without an employment permit (Article 8); Article 19, 2000 Law No 61 ‘On External Migration’ of Kyrgyzstan. 337 Article 18.3(3), 2005 Migration Law of Turkmenistan, as amended in 2011. ~ 52 ~