Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan similarly included a question on nationality in their 2009 censuses and were expected to publish the results in 2010 or 2011. Turkmenistan will also include a similar question in the census planned for 2012. It is not clear how States will correlate data collected on stateless persons through a census, with data drawn from other national procedures, such as birth registration and use it to make policy. The process of sharing statistics between government ministries is generally not comprehensive. In Kazakhstan, census results are likely to feed into the National Database of Natural Persons (which includes stateless persons). It includes information drawn from a range of state agencies and informs policymaking. 1.2.2 Registration Campaigns and Surveys The State Migration Service of Turkmenistan (SMST) has been using mobile registration teams to determine the nationality of individuals living in border areas since the USSR collapsed. It expects to establish three things: who meets the criteria for nationality set down in the 1992 Citizenship Law and who have Turkmen nationality as a result;6 who has the nationality of another state, with valid documentation to prove it; and who has no legal bond to any country. The last group will have to produce evidence that they have no affiliation to another state after which they will be entitled to a residence permit and to access naturalization procedures.7As part of its registration drive, the SMST has compiled a bio-database8 on every individual it has registered. Although no official statistics have been made public, it is known that by the end of 2009 some 12,000 persons over the age of 16 had been identified as stateless by the end of 2009. The number of stateless children registered was not known. In Kyrgyzstan, UNHCR’s NGO implementing partners9 carried out three surveys in the north and south of the country, with the help of government agencies. They focused on people with undetermined nationality and those not documented as Kyrgyz nationals. The surveys did not aspire to forensic accuracy or to identify every person at risk of statelessness, but for the first time elicited the reasons why people are stateless and provided detailed statistical data on the stateless population. The surveys were published in 2009 and shared with state agencies and civil society organizations dealing with statelessness and humanitarian issues.10 The surveys in Kyrgyzstan identified close to 13,000 persons who were stateless or at risk of statelessness in 2007 and 2008. These included approximately 4,500 former USSR nationals who qualify for citizenship under the new Nationality Law, but who have to apply to Conflict Commissions to confirm citizenship, as well as those Kyrgyz nationals who have not yet exchanged their USSR passports. The surveys also identified former citizens of another State who have become stateless because of shortcomings in citizenship legislation and practices. They are mainly spouses of Kyrgyz nationals, living in border areas. Finally, more than 6,000 children of stateless persons were found to face difficulties in obtaining passports due to the status of one or both of their parents. The survey in 6 This is set out in the 1992 Citizenship Law of Turkmenistan, Article 49. There was no specific identification of stateless persons conducted in the country after the declaration of independence in 1991. During the Soviet era, persons who had been identified as stateless persons by USSR authorities were issued Stateless Person’s Cards which was a valid identification and travel document in the Soviet Union. It granted either treatment equal to other aliens, or with respect to some rights, such as education, employment, health and social security, identical treatment to nationals. After independence, the Turkmenistan Government replaced the USSR-format statelessness cards with residence permits, though the holders of the replaced cards continued to enjoy similar treatment as before. These were mainly students and immigrants who arrived in Turkmenistan during the Soviet time under educational schemes between the former USSR and other (non-USSR) countries or due to family links. 8 It includes their date of birth, gender, marital status and bio-data of their children, as well as the information that identifies their eligibility for citizenship or permanent residence in the country. 9 These are the NGOs Adilet, Fergana Lawyers without Borders, Centre for Support to International Protection, Counterpart Sheriktesh, and Help Refugees. 10 UN High Commissioner for Refugees, A Place to Call Home. The Situation of Stateless persons in the Kyrgyz Republic: Findings of Surveys Commissioned by the UNHCR, UNHCR Bishkek, 2009. 7 ~6~