Nationality is a fundamental human right. It is something most of us take for granted. But there are millions of people in the world who don’t have a nationality.

They are classified as stateless. Without a nationality, you are invisible in the eyes of the law. Statelessness endangers one of the most fundamental aspects of a person’s wellbeing: their identity.

But statelessness is not inevitable. It can be solved. UNHCR calls on all states to take necessary action to end statelessness.

Because no one should be made to feel invisible. And everyone has the right to say ‘I Belong’.

What does it mean to be stateless?

UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, Cate Blanchett explains statelessness

Statelessness in Central Asia

As of June 2024, around 37,000 people were known to be stateless across Central Asia. With stateless people continuously identified, the true number is believed to be higher.

A majority of stateless people in Central Asia are ex-citizens of the former Soviet Union who have not yet acquired or confirmed citizenship of the independent States. Others are born stateless or became stateless due to gaps in nationality laws, international migration, and mixed marriages.

In Central Asia, UNHCR serves:

• Stateless persons: individuals recognized and documented by the State as being without any nationality; and
• Persons with undetermined nationality: individuals who do not have proof that they possess any nationality, and have links to more than one State, or are perceived and treated by the authorities in the State of residence as possessing such.

Pledges to End Statelessness

Since 2019, States, academia, NGO consortia and the UN in Central Asia have made 38 pledges to the Global Compact on Refugees – over half of which commit to reducing, preventing, and ending statelessness.