On 4 March, in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, UNHCR
contributed to a press briefing organized by the
Migration Service Committee of the Ministry of
Interior as part of the second phase of a joint
country-wide statelessness identification and
documentation campaign. The press briefings
and outreach sessions aim to raise awareness of
statelessness and support national eradication
efforts.
On 24 March, the European Commission adopted
the first comprehensive EU Strategy on the Rights
of the Child. The strategy explicitly recognizes the
special needs of stateless children, urging Member
States to ensure access to birth registration for all
children and to increase the capacity of front-line
officials to respond to statelessness in the context of
migration.
Mukhamadjon Turgunov, a former kickboxing champion and currently a
taekwondo coach, finally received Uzbek citizenship in April 2020.
© UNHCR/Elyor Nematov, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
On 24 March, the European Network on
Statelessness organized a webinar to launch its
annual StatelessnessINDEX and provide a forum for
experts to report on key trends.
On 26 March, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, UNHCR and
the National Human Rights Committee organized
a regional roundtable on statelessness reduction
and prevention in Central Asia. Participants
included representatives of relevant authorities and
civil society partners from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. It was
an opportunity for participants to assess progress
on efforts to eradicate statelessness in the region,
review the implementation of pledges submitted
at the 2019 HLS, present best practices and
achievements in the region, and discuss ways to
close remaining gaps.
As part of a broader awareness raising campaign in
Kosovo (S/RES/1244(1999)), UNHCR and its legal
partner organization Civil Rights Program Kosovo
(CRPK) issued a report documenting individual
success stories in obtaining birth and other civil
registration documents.
On 11 January, a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) was concluded among UNHCR’s partners in
Kazakhstan, the Migration Service Committee and
the Ministry of Justice. The MoU aims to strengthen
joint efforts including assistance to and protection
of stateless persons, the roll-out of identification
and documentation campaigns, and improvement of
the legislative framework related to nationality and
statelessness.
In January, UNHCR donated 19 sets of information
and communication technology equipment to the
Uzbek State Committee on Statistics to support the
collection and management of disaggregated data
on stateless persons and those with undetermined
nationality.
Dragana Maksimovic-Durlevic received documentation proving
that she was born in Kosovo (S/RES/1244(1999)). © Vushtri/Vučitrn
Municipality
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