- - the agreement between the Kyrgyz Republic and the Russian Federation on the Simplified Procedures of Acquisition of Citizenship for Russian Citizens Permanently Residing in the Kyrgyz Territory and Vice-versa (28 March 1996); the multilateral agreement between the Kyrgyz Republic and others CIS States “On Simplified Manner of Acquisition of Citizenship between the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and the Russian Federation”, concluded in Moscow (26 February 1999). Of these, the instrument that had been of most significance in the application of simplified procedures regarding the acquisition and loss nationality was obtained through agreements between the Republic of Tajikistan and the Kyrgyz Republic on Simplified Manner of Acquisition of Citizenship (of 7 June 2002 and 26 May 2004). These regional agreements have aided approximately 10,000 stateless refugees from Tajikistan attain Kyrgyz citizenship. In addition, the Kyrgyz Republic is party to the CIS Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Minsk Convention”). The Minsk Convention provides for all basic civil, political, economic and social human rights and freedoms contained in international human rights treaties, including the right to a nationality and freedom from arbitrary deprivation of nationality, as well as the right to change nationality (Article 24). The Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic of 23 October 2007 (the “Constitution”) provides that international treaties, to which the Kyrgyz Republic is party to, as well as universally accepted principles and norms of international law are an integral part of the domestic legal system. In practice, however, authorities as well as the legal system including the courts tend to implement provisions based on national legislation and domestic regulatory frameworks rather than the obligations of the Kyrgyz Republic under international law. UNHCR representatives in conjunction with members of the Working Group are developing recommendations on measures to document all aforementioned categories of statelessness. In addition, UNHCR is working on the promotion of accession to the 1954 Convention and the 1961 Convention) by the Kyrgyz Government. 1.5 National legal framework The Constitution vests the President with the authority to grant Kyrgyz nationality (Article 46.3(5)). Furthermore, Article 20.4 of the Constitution guarantees the right to acquire Kyrgyz nationality to any ethnic Kyrgyz in a simplified manner, whether or not they have any other nationality. The Law “On the Legal Status of Aliens in the Kyrgyz Republic” of 14 December 1993 (the “1993 Aliens Law”) has a general provision on equality of rights, freedoms and responsibilities of aliens and nationals unless otherwise provided for in relevant legislation (Article 3). Furthermore, Article 24 of the 1993 Aliens Law extends the application of its provisions to include stateless persons. The adoption of the new Citizenship Law in 2007 significantly improved the nationality legislation in the Kyrgyz Republic. For example, considering the irregular status of many former USSR citizens, who failed to obtain Kyrgyz citizenship under the previous Citizenship Laws of 1990 and 1993, the new 2007 Citizenship Law eliminated any deadline obstacles and made these residents Kyrgyz nationals provided that they had permanently resided in the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic for the last five years and applied for national passports. If fully implemented, this provision alone could significantly reduce the number of stateless persons and individuals at risk of statelessness by more than 70 percent amongst former 57 Small Changes ‫ ـ‬Big Gains: An Action Plan to Prevent and Reduce Statelessness in the Kyrgyz Republic