6 Community Participation, Self-Management and Self-Reliance In each of the four Central Asian States covered in this chapter, a law ‘On the Legal Status of Foreigners’ accords foreigners a number of rights that give them the possibility to achieve a degree of self-reliance and opportunity to participate in the community. As with the satisfaction of basic needs and provision of services outlined in the previous chapter, the law extends to stateless persons, unless otherwise specified in the legislation of the State. As in Chapter 5, in each case the term ‘stateless’ embraces only those who are permanently resident, whom the State has formally recognised in law as ‘stateless’. By law, undocumented stateless people, or people with difficulties establishing their nationality, are generally not entitled to the rights outlined below. 6.1 Rights and responsibilities As mentioned above, the profiling of stateless people in the region is incomplete. There is therefore no comprehensive information on the extent to which they exercise their rights and responsibilities. Some work has been done by national migration services and local NGOs to disseminate information about rights and responsibilities among stateless persons and help them enjoy their rights.408 In Turkmenistan, field offices of the State Migration Services give stateless persons some information about their rights and responsibilities. In all four States, UNHCR’s NGO partners give practical assistance to stateless persons on an individual basis. In Kazakhstan, fifteen NGOs work with ‘Oralmany’, ethnic Kazakhs returning to Kazakhstan by official invitation.409 Although they mostly enter the country in resettlement quotas, some of them are stateless. Five of the NGOs are self-help groups that give legal advice and one specializes in the rights of Oralman women subjected to violence in the family. The two surveys in northern Kyrgyzstan carried out by UNHCR’s NGO partners reported that by far the majority of queries at the legal clinics related to information about how to acquire citizenship (86% and 96%); around half related to legal problems of different sorts (41% in both surveys); and up to one quarter related to employment rights (24% and 18%).410 In focus groups in all four States, stateless persons asked UNHCR for more information. They particularly wanted to know how to acquire citizenship; how to solve practical problems with passports; what education their children had the right to expect; whether their statelessness status would prevent their children marrying in a legal ceremony and having children who were legitimate; how to find work; and how to establish the same nationality for all members of their family. 6.2 Participatory assessments and community mobilization Foreigners are entitled to join non-profit making organisations in each of the four States, as are stateless people who are permanent residents.411 Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan restricts membership to organisations with ‘non-political aims’ and Kazakhstan also prohibits stateless persons and other foreigners from joining political parties. In Tajikistan, they cannot join non-profit groups with a 408 Some information on citizenship and naturalization procedures is also available on consular websites, as is some information on migration rules, temporary sojourn and permanent residence. 409 Human Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Activities of NGOs, Section 6: Observing the Right of Refugees and Oralmans in Kazakhstan, Astana, 2008, p. 72. 410 UN High Commissioner for Refugees, A Place to Call Home. The Situation of Stateless persons in the Kyrgyz Republic: Findings of Surveys Commissioned by the UNHCR, UNHCR Bishkek, 2009, pages 49 and 65. 411 In Tajikistan, Article 12, 2007 Law ‘on Public Associations’ and Article 15, 1997 Law No 500 ‘On the Legal Status of Foreigners’, as amended in 2009; Article 15, 1993 Law ‘On the Legal Status of Foreigners’ in Turkmenistan, as amended in 2011; Article 12, 1995 Law No 2337 ‘On the Legal Status of Foreigners’ in Kazakhstan; and Article 14, 1993 Law No 1296XII ‘On the Legal Status of Foreigners’ in Kyrgyzstan. ~ 63 ~