UNHCR handed over equipment for birth registration to the State Registration Service of Kyrgyzstan
On 19 February the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) donated forty matrix printers to the State Registration Service to issue birth certificate at local level. This donation which became possible thanks to contribution from Denmark is a part of UNHCR’s ongoing support to the Government of Kyrgyzstan in implementing its pledges to prevent statelessness, including improvement of birth registration for all children born in the country.
“By resolving all known cases of statelessness in 2019, Kyrgyzstan demonstrated that statelessness can be ended. To tackle the roots of statelessness and prevent it from re-occurring, immediate birth registration of every newborn child remains important. Avoiding statelessness among children is one major aim of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, whose 60th anniversary we celebrate this year. We also offer our assistance to Kyrgyzstan to become party to and further implement this convention as well as the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons,” said Hans Friedrich Schodder, UNHCR Representative for Central Asia.
During the transfer of technical assistance, Head of the State Registration Service Akin Mambetaliev noted the importance and relevance of this assistance: “Every child must be documented. Every citizen must be considered. 1 child -1 life – 1 document.”
Danish funding helped UNHCR to enhance its cooperation with the State Registration Service and local municipalities in the prevention of statelessness in Kyrgyzstan. In December 2020, the UN Refugee Agency together with partners trained 185 civil registration officers in all provinces of Kyrgyzstan on birth registration and the prevention of childhood statelessness. 800 handbooks on civil registration and documentation issues to prevent child statelessness were printed, to be distributed to local self-governance units and territorial divisions of the State Registration Service.
As part of Global #IBelong Campaign to End Statelessness by 2024, UNHCR continues to closely cooperate with the Government of Kyrgyzstan in the reduction and prevention of statelessness.
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter
