5 Basic Needs and Essential Services In Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, a law ‘On the Legal Status of Foreigners’ accords foreign citizens a range of essential services.350 The provisions of the law extend to stateless persons, unless otherwise specified in the legislation of the State. In each case, this embraces only permanent residents, whom the State has formally recognised as ‘stateless’. With few exceptions, undocumented stateless people, or people with difficulties establishing their nationality, are not legally entitled to essential services provided by the State. 5.1 Food security and nutrition The availability of water, energy and food are closely connected in Central Asia.351 Shortages of each have affected populations known to include stateless persons. There is, however, little information available on the specific situation of stateless persons in each country. Agricultural policy in Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan has aimed for food self-sufficiency since 1991.352 Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are net food importers, where the cost of foodstuffs comprises two thirds of the consumer price index in each country. In poor households, the proportion of the budget devoted to food is higher. Food insecurity in both States is chronic and relates to cost rather than physical availability, according to a 2009 study by UNDP.353 In 2008, food prices rose by 32% in Kyrgyzstan and 26% in Tajikistan as a result of the global recession.354 A UN World Food Programme (WFP) survey at the end of that year found that 1 million people in Kyrgyzstan had insecure sources of food – almost 20% of the population. In Tajikistan, 2.2 million were found to be food-insecure – almost half of those resident on Tajik territory. The WFP survey identified areas and family-types that particularly suffered from uncertain food supply. In Kyrgyzstan, for instance, the highest rates of food insecurity were noted in Jalalabad (where 28% had uncertain access to food) and in Osh (where 26% were found to be food-insecure).355 Households headed by men were also found to be more prone to food insecurity than households headed by women. They tended to be larger and to benefit from fewer remittances sent by family members living and working abroad. The sampling carried out in 2008 by UNHCR’s NGO partners in the same two areas, identified dense concentrations of stateless people in both, many of them women who had crossed over the border from Uzbekistan and married into households headed by local men. Although Kyrgyzstan, like the other three States, has not yet assessed the needs of stateless persons within its borders, it seems likely that in areas of high food insecurity, the stateless are particularly vulnerable to food shortage. The WFP survey noted that rural ‘solidarity mechanisms’ appeared to help people severely short of food. 350 Since 2005, UNHCR has not been regularly present in Uzbekistan, the fifth Central Asian State, and so this and the following chapter do not cover for the situation of stateless persons there. A comprehensive analysis of the legal framework for protection of stateless persons in Uzbekistan was also not possible for the same reason. Any reference made to Uzbekistan is based on a limited desk review. 351 World Bank, Water Energy Nexus in Central Asia, World Bank Report, January 2004. UN World Food Programme, Food Security Analysis of the Kyrgyz Integrated Household Survey for 2006, 2007 and the first quarter of 2008, 4 November 2008. This link distinguishes Central Asia from other regions with a comparable level of economic development but different energy sources. 352 Baydilina, Akshiabay, Bayeteva, Mkrtichyan, Haliepesasa, Aktaev, Agricultural Reforms and Food Security in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, Food Policy, Vol 25, Issue 6, Amsterdam, December 2000, pp 629-747. 353 United Nations Development Programme, Central Asia Regional Risk Assessment: Responding to Water, Energy and Food Insecurity, January 2009, available at http://europeandcis.undp.org/home/show/60A5CE02-F203-1EE9B62FC5613A5C6D5A. 354 Ibid. 355 UN World Food Programme, Food Security Analysis of the Kyrgyz Integrated Household Survey 2006, 2007 and the first quarter of 2008, 4 November 2008. ~ 55 ~