Good Practices Brochure: Stateless Women and Girls Acquiring citizenship opens new opportunities for women from remote areas of Tajikistan Adolat Tokhirova was born in 2003 in a remote Tajik village in Rudaki district. When she was born, her mother, Sojida, had only a passport from the Soviet Union – a State that had already ceased to exist. According to Tajik law, parents must have valid identification documents in order to register the birth of their children. Because of this, Sojida, a single mother, could not register the birth of her daughter. Sojida is now 55 years old, and she and Adolat live in a remote area where women hardly participate in public life. They do not vote in elections, do not travel outside the village, and do not receive social benefits. Sojida works in the farm fields to feed herself and her daughter, and the rest of her time is taken up with housework. She has never thought about such things as work experience, vacation time, or receiving benefits. Over the years, the State lost contact with Adolat because her birth was not registered. Birth registration is important for the protection of a person’s rights, freedoms, and interests and it creates conditions for the exercise of one’s rights and freedoms. Her family first encountered difficulties due to the lack of citizenship when Adolat graduated from the ninth grade of school. She was not issued a school graduation certificate because she did not have a birth certificate. Sojida turned to the NGO “Right & Prosperity” for help, and they concluded that Adolat would be able to obtain citizenship only after her mother’s status was legalized. Therefore, the organization first provided legal assistance for the documentation of Sojida. Then they turned their attention to Adolat. For girls like Adolat who have no documentary records of their birth, the law provides a way to establish the fact of birth – by going to court. It is important to mention that people in this situation cannot independently apply to the court, properly prepare an application and collect the necessary evidence without assistance, meaning that access to the court is limited for undocumented people. Lawyers of Right & Prosperity presented evidence of Adolat’s actual existence during the trial and established the fact of her birth. As a result, Adolat received a birth certificate and a Tajik passport. 12