Former Tajik refugees, now integrated Kyrgyz citizens in Chui Province, Kyrgyzstan. © UNHCR / A. Plotnikov
left Tajikistan before the country adopted its first nationality law. The facilitated naturalization of around
10,000 of these refugees between 2004 and 2007 was thus a major achievement in ensuring durable solutions
for refugees through local integration, as well as in the resolution of a protracted statelessness situation.
Recognition of stateless former USSR citizens as citizens and simplified
naturalization procedures through the 2007 Citizenship Law
Recognizing that many individuals had yet to replace USSR passports and confirm their citizenship, Kyrgyzstan
adopted the Law on Citizenship of the Kyrgyz Republic in 2007 (2007 Law).20 Shortly thereafter, Presidential
Decree #473, Regulation on Procedures to Consider Issues of Kyrgyz Republic Citizenship, was also issued,
providing implementing rules for the new law.
Article 5 of the 2007 Law automatically recognizes as Kyrgyz nationals former USSR citizens who have
permanently resided in the Kyrgyz Republic for the last five years (from the moment of approaching an organ
of the Ministry of Interior) and who have not declared that they possess the citizenship of another State.21
Individuals falling within this category are required to approach a local government body to determine whether
they qualify as Kyrgyz citizens and to be documented as such, but as long as they meet the stated criteria
they will be recognised as Kyrgyz citizens. This is significant, considering that the process whereby citizenship
is granted in Central Asia and elsewhere in the CIS region is usually highly centralized, with naturalization
decisions in most cases taken by the President. The decentralized, non-discretionary procedure in Kyrgyzstan
20
Law of the Kyrgyz Republic on Citizenship of the Kyrgyz Republic [Kyrgyzstan], available at:
http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4693a5e514f.html.
21
This means that from the moment the individual applies for determination of Kyrgyz citizenship, the authority competent to make the nationality
determination counts backwards to see whether an individual contacted a department of the Ministry of Interior five years ago or more (usually
to regulate their residence status).
14
CAMPAIGN TO END STATELESSNESS WITHIN 10 YE ARS