ent situations of statelessness. The non-accession to the UN Statelessness Conventions of 1954 and 1961 further weaken the legal basis for statelessness reduction and prevention in the country. Nevertheless, significant progress has been made as a result of the new citizenship law in 2007 which included some categories former USSR citizens who had yet to acquire Kyrgyz citizenship. In 2009, UNHCR and the Working Group drafted the action plan which comprehensively encompasses measures on prevention and reduction of statelessness, as well as protection of stateless persons. It includes, actions on developing legal tools for identification of stateless persons and their formal recognition, an improvement of legislation so as to introduce a guarantee that a person should be granted nationality if they become stateless, as well as ensures access to identified stateless persons to naturalization in the country. The action plan was presented and agreed at the roundtable held in September 2009. 2.3 Prevention of statelessness through acquisition of citizenship Provisions governing the acquisition of Kyrgyz nationality in the 2007 Citizenship Law are mainly based on the application of the jus sanguinis (law of blood) principle. Kyrgyz ethnicity is also used as an eligibility factor for acquisition of nationality by naturalization (the 2007 Citizenship Law, Article 14.2). There are four general channels for acquisition of nationality under the current legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic, which are by: a) birth; b) admission to the country’s nationality (naturalization); c) restoration of Kyrgyz nationality; d) the basis of an international treaty legally effective in the Kyrgyz Republic (the 2007 Citizenship Law, Article 11). Although the restoration of nationality has been singled out by the law as a separate procedure for acquisition of Kyrgyz citizenship, people applying to have their citizenship restored are required to follow the simplified procedure of naturalization. This pertains to individuals who previously held Kyrgyz citizenship, lost it, but remained as residents continuously and legally in the country. The country’s legislation does not recognize any other nationality of its citizens other than that of the Kyrgyz Republic. According to Article 6 of the 2007 Nationality Law, a national of the Kyrgyz Republic that also has another nationality is deemed by the Kyrgyz Republic as it’s national only unless otherwise provided by the law or an international treaty entered into force with that country. Thus, if the attainment of the nationality of another state does not contradict with the legislation of both countries; or if the nationality of the foreign country is acquired in accordance with an inter-state treaty on dual nationality, then an individual, being a national of the Kyrgyz Republic, can accept the nationality of another state (Article 22.1). However, dual nationality in the Kyrgyz Republic is not recognized in case of nationals of countries bordering the Kyrgyz Republic and in case of individuals who fall under Article 16 of the 2007 Citizenship Law.14 Acquisition of another nationality does not entail the termination of the nationality of the Kyrgyz Republic (Article 6.2). The following legal analysis of the provisions on acquisition of citizenship under Kyrgyz legislation will look at substantive and procedural rules of acquisition and their compliance with international standards and domestic legislation. 14 Persons who (i) act for forcible change of foundations of constitutional system or carry out activities threatening state security, or (ii) persons who submitted forged documents or misrepresented, or (iii) were expelled from the country with temporary (five years) or permanent ban on entering the Kyrgyz Republic, (iv) persons who are military servants or law enforcement or state security servants of a foreign state, (v) persons prosecuted in accordance with the laws of the Kyrgyz Republic or laws of a foreign state (until a final decision of relevant law enforcement bodies or courts of the Kyrgyz Republic is reached, or (vi) defendants in civil law proceedings (until final decision of courts of the Kyrgyz Republic is reached), or (vii) persons who were sentenced and are serving their sentences in prison (until the punishment ended), or (viii) sentenced to imprisonment for crimes classified as grave and extremely grave crimes (Article 16, 2007 Citizenship Law). Small Changes ‫ ـ‬Big Gains: An Action Plan to Prevent and Reduce Statelessness in the Kyrgyz Republic 62