UNHCR opened its office in Turkmenistan in 1995 to assist the country to protect an influx of refugees fleeing the civil war in Tajikistan. With full responsibility for refugee status determination assumed by the government in 2009, UNHCR became a non-resident agency in Turkmenistan.
As of November 2024, Turkmenistan hosts 13 refugees recognised by UNHCR under its global mandate. In October 2024, Turkmenistan became the second country in the world to resolve all its known cases of statelessness.
Protecting Refugees
Turkmenistan adopted its first Law on Refugees in 1997, and acceded to the 1951 Refugee Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol in 1998.
Turkmenistan was the first country in Central Asia to become a member of UNHCR’s Executive Committee, elected in 2011.
UNHCR supports the government to align national legislation and practise with international standards, and to prepare in case of mass arrival of people forced to flee.
There has been no asylum-seeker registered by authorities since 2009.
Ending Statelessness
Turkmenistan is the only Central Asian country party to the two key UN Conventions on Statelessness – the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.
Since the 2014 launch of the global #IBelong campaign, Turkmenistan has made great progress to end statelessness, adopting one of the most detailed Statelessness Determination Procedures in the world, amending legislation to ensure all children born in the country can be registered at birth – including those with undocumented parents – and granting citizenship to more than 13,000 stateless people.
In January 2019, the Government of Turkmenistan adopted a National Action Plan to End Statelessness, aiming to resolve all known statelessness cases by the end of 2024, and implementing adequate safeguards to prevent people from becoming stateless in the future.
UNHCR collaborates with the Government, State authorities, UN agencies, international organizations, and other partners in protecting forcibly displaced and stateless people in Turkmenistan.
UNHCR is a non-resident agency in Turkmenistan, with activities carried out through civil society partners, and oversight, funding, and strategic directions provided by the UNHCR Representation to Central Asia, located in Almaty, Kazakhstan.