As most of the population concerned are of rural background, many, especially in the South of the country, are engaged in agriculture (crop and livestock sectors). However, the North Survey and the Focus Group sessions, which covered the different groups from the northern and southern provinces, identified day labour and agricultural works as the main source of income for the majority of individuals concerned. Many of them alluded to a lack of proper documentation as a reason for limited employment opportunities. The three surveys conducted by UNHCR’s implementing partners identified several categories of people who are either stateless or at risk of statelessness. In total, the surveys identified close to 13,000 stateless persons and their family members. The following are three of the major categories of stateless persons and persons at risk of statelessness in the Kyrgyz Republic. Former USSR citizens: The largest group of stateless persons consist of former USSR citizens, who weren’t covered by Article 1 of the old Law On Citizenship of the Kyrgyz Republic as of 18 December 1993 (the “1993 Citizenship Law”). They were neither nationals of the country before the adoption of the Declaration of Sovereignty of the Kyrgyz Republic of 15 December 1990 nor nationals of the country by the date of entry into force of the 1993 Citizenship Law, i.e. by 18 February 1994 and therefore had to acquire the nationality of the country through naturalization. While they permanently reside in the Kyrgyz Republic, they face difficulties such as lack of all or some of the documents required for claiming Kyrgyz nationality, lack of a residential stamp commonly known as a propiska in the Kyrgyz Republic, or failure to annul a propiska in the country of their previous residence. Others, have been recognized as nationals of the Kyrgyz Republic as per the 1993 Citizenship Law, but failed to change their USSR passports and obtain new passports of the Kyrgyz Republic4 due to either unawareness of all requirements for replacement of passports, or an unwillingness to deal with complicated administrative procedures, or unaffordable fees. The surveys identified more than 4,450 adult former USSR citizens who still possess only USSR passports. However, the Southern survey, referring to data provided to UNHCR by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in January 2008, indicated that there were 12,268 holders of former USSR passports living in the three Southern provinces (Osh, Batken and Jalal-Abad provinces) alone. In addition, there were adults whose only documentation were birth certificates issued in the former USSR republics. According to the latest available data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs approximately 11,270 persons exchanged their former USSR passports to national passports of the Kyrgyz Republic in 2009. CIS Passport Holders: Holders of invalid national passports of a CIS country most of whom possess expired foreign passports, which are unrenewable as they failed to register their residence abroad with consular authorities within the allotted time,5 and therefore cannot return to their countries with invalid passports. It also includes their family members who are undocumented 4 5 The deadline (31 December 2005), for replacement of USSR passports to new Kyrgyz Republic passports was set by the Decree of the Government No557 dated 27 July 2004. Thus, for example, the Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Tajikistan of 4 November 1995 (Article 29) and the Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Uzbekistan of 2 July 1992 (Article 21) provide for the loss of nationality of these countries by nationals who reside abroad but failed to register with consular authorities within five years. It should however be noted that neither of the Laws provide for automatic loss of nationality and require either a decision of the consular authorities on the failure to register or a Presidential Edict to be adopted to effect such a loss. Small Changes ‫ ـ‬Big Gains: An Action Plan to Prevent and Reduce Statelessness in the Kyrgyz Republic 52