In May this year Ashgabat will be hosting the international conference on refugees and displaced persons. Regional Representative/Regional Coordinator for Central Asia of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr. Saber Azam, who paid a working visit to the Turkmen capital, underlined the significance of this event in his interview.
Mr. Saber Azam expressed gratitude to President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov for his proposal to conduct this conference in Ashgabat.
“As agreed, the conference will be conducted at the level of Deputy Foreign Ministers of member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, they are about 57. Also, the partner countries, including the United States, the Russian Federation, Australia and other, will attend the conference.
“Together with government delegations, a number of international and regional organisations will participate in the conference. The themes to be addressed at the conference are related to refugees in the Muslim world as 70 percent of refugees are the Muslims and they reside in Muslim countries. A large number of refugees are a significant challenge to these countries and the whole world. Therefore, we expect this conference to address global issues.
“Also, we view it as a splendid opportunity to highlight Turkmenistan’s practice experience and lessons learnt in addressing global issues. Turkmenistan’s achievements in tackling the issues related to refugees and reducing and preventing statelessness are of everlasting global significance. Our cooperation with Turkmenistan has its own history, and I would like to emphasize that the model of this cooperation serves as an effective example for UNHRC liaison offices in other countries to follow.
“As regards the protection of refugees I would like to note that the Government of Turkmenistan received thousands of refugees that had fled their homes in the aftermath of civil war in Tajikistan, gave them shelter and assistance. After the civil war ended and stability was restored in Tajikistan, the Government of Turkmenistan helped several thousands of refugees to return home on a voluntary basis. The vast majority of those who decided not to return, they are about 16,000, were granted citizenship or residence permit. It is a truly humanitarian action towards brothers and sisters who arrived from Tajikistan as well as the whole mankind.
“Another landmark in the history of UNHCR-Turkmenistan cooperation I would like to mention is tackling the challenge of preventing and reducing statelessness. This issue is crucial to addressing the problems Central Asia faces. The Government of Turkmenistan was the first to initiate the solutions to this problem on a global scale. Turkmenistan conducted registration of all stateless persons. The registration was conducted in two phases that resulted in recognizing about 13,000 people older than 18 years old as persons without identity document. 3,318 of them received Turkmen citizenship in 2011 at the decision of the President of Turkmenistan.
“We believe that other Central Asian states and countries in other regions of the world will follow the example of Turkmenistan to tackle these issues.
“Another important fact is worth mentioning. Turkmenistan is the first Central Asian country to accede to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. In this regard we express hope that other countries will accede to this Convention.”
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UNHCR established a Liaison Office in Turkmenistan in July 1995. The main objective at the moment was to support the Government of Turkmenistan in providing assistance to refugees from Tajikistan. Today Turkmenistan is a permanent member of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme.
Mr. Saber Azam expressed gratitude to President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov for his proposal to conduct this conference in Ashgabat.
“As agreed, the conference will be conducted at the level of Deputy Foreign Ministers of member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, they are about 57. Also, the partner countries, including the United States, the Russian Federation, Australia and other, will attend the conference.
“Together with government delegations, a number of international and regional organisations will participate in the conference. The themes to be addressed at the conference are related to refugees in the Muslim world as 70 percent of refugees are the Muslims and they reside in Muslim countries. A large number of refugees are a significant challenge to these countries and the whole world. Therefore, we expect this conference to address global issues.
“Also, we view it as a splendid opportunity to highlight Turkmenistan’s practice experience and lessons learnt in addressing global issues. Turkmenistan’s achievements in tackling the issues related to refugees and reducing and preventing statelessness are of everlasting global significance. Our cooperation with Turkmenistan has its own history, and I would like to emphasize that the model of this cooperation serves as an effective example for UNHRC liaison offices in other countries to follow.
“As regards the protection of refugees I would like to note that the Government of Turkmenistan received thousands of refugees that had fled their homes in the aftermath of civil war in Tajikistan, gave them shelter and assistance. After the civil war ended and stability was restored in Tajikistan, the Government of Turkmenistan helped several thousands of refugees to return home on a voluntary basis. The vast majority of those who decided not to return, they are about 16,000, were granted citizenship or residence permit. It is a truly humanitarian action towards brothers and sisters who arrived from Tajikistan as well as the whole mankind.
“Another landmark in the history of UNHCR-Turkmenistan cooperation I would like to mention is tackling the challenge of preventing and reducing statelessness. This issue is crucial to addressing the problems Central Asia faces. The Government of Turkmenistan was the first to initiate the solutions to this problem on a global scale. Turkmenistan conducted registration of all stateless persons. The registration was conducted in two phases that resulted in recognizing about 13,000 people older than 18 years old as persons without identity document. 3,318 of them received Turkmen citizenship in 2011 at the decision of the President of Turkmenistan.
“We believe that other Central Asian states and countries in other regions of the world will follow the example of Turkmenistan to tackle these issues.
“Another important fact is worth mentioning. Turkmenistan is the first Central Asian country to accede to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. In this regard we express hope that other countries will accede to this Convention.”
UNHCR established a Liaison Office in Turkmenistan in July 1995. The main objective at the moment was to support the Government of Turkmenistan in providing assistance to refugees from Tajikistan. Today Turkmenistan is a permanent member of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme.
