they sometimes faced in registering undocumented children (without birth certificates) in medical facilities, which resulted in a denial of access to certain medical services such as diagnostics and operations. In the South, the findings of the Focus Group revealed a high level of truancy among children after third grade since parents require their children to work with them in the fields in order to increase family earnings. Parents in this area consider the expenses associated with education to be burdensome and costly (books, notebooks, shoes, clothes, school fees etc). 4.4 Freedom of movement, including right to return The freedom of movement and residence of stateless persons in the Kyrgyz Republic is guaranteed by the 1993 Aliens Law. As previously mentioned, movement and residence maybe restricted on the ground of national security, protection of public order, public healthcare and morals, protection of rights and legitimate interests of the population (Article 18). However, the law does not define the scope of national security or public order grounds, nor has any official interpretation been adopted of the law. The regulatory functions with respect to the movement of individuals within the country (internal migration), as well as to and from the Kyrgyz Republic (external migration) fall under the competence of the State Committee for Migration and Employment of the Kyrgyz Republic, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the State Committee for National Security and the State Border-guard Service of the Kyrgyz Republic.23 In order to travel from and return to the Kyrgyz Republic, domestic legislation requires a stateless person to have a stateless person’s card as afore-mentioned. The survey conducted in the South of the country made reference to restrictions placed on the movement of individuals who reside in the territory of the country with expired passports. Reports on constraints of movement for undocumented individuals in the North and South of the country were recorded during the Focus Group meetings. Undocumented individuals expressed a fear of being detained if caught by police while travelling. However, holders of former USSR passports with propiska do not experience such restrictions. 4.5 Detention Detention of individuals with an undetermined nationality in the Kyrgyz Republic is not well documented and monitored. There is no information on numbers or reasons for detention that law enforcement authorities employ for stateless persons. Nor is there reliable information on services such as legal assistance and free translation rendered to detained stateless individuals, or on the treatment that they receive while in detention. According to representatives of district law enforcement bodies, although former USSR passports are no longer legally valid documents, their holders in rural areas are rarely detained, since they are known to authorities as residents of those areas and registered with local administrators. Nevertheless, individuals that attended the Northern and Southern Focus Groups confirmed that their lack of proper documentation puts them at increased risk of detention. 4.6 Access to legal remedies The 1993 Aliens Law guarantees general rights of access to the courts and protection under the law. This also includes equal rights for stateless people and nationals in judicial proceedings (Article 20). In the absence of an official interpretation of the above provision 23 Articles 5 of the 2000 External Migration Law and the Law of Kyrgyz Republic On Internal Migration dated 16 October 2002. 77 Small Changes ‫ ـ‬Big Gains: An Action Plan to Prevent and Reduce Statelessness in the Kyrgyz Republic