Kazakhstan Multi-Country Office

Across Central Asia, UNHCR focuses on strengthening local ownership and quality of asylum systems, promoting local integration of refugees, eradicating statelessness, and collaborating with partners on emergency preparedness and response.

Since their independence in 1991, Central Asian countries have generously sheltered thousands of people fleeing war, persecution, or human rights violations. Most refugees in Central Asia have been living there for years, or even decades. They often speak local languages, and many have family ties with citizens. UNHCR works with governments to fulfil international obligations, as well as pledges made to the Global Compact on Refugees, enabling refugees to contribute to the sustainable development of the communities generously hosting them.

Central Asia is also home to a considerable stateless population – largely a result of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Without legal identity, stateless people often have difficulty accessing basic rights and services such as education, healthcare, employment and freedom of movement. UNHCR promotes the alignment of national citizenship and statelessness laws with international standards, and advocates for Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan to join Turkmenistan in acceding to the UN Statelessness Conventions. Since the launch of the #IBelong Campaign in 2014, Central Asia has resolved the cases of nearly 200,000 stateless people.

The UNHCR Representation to Central Asia is in Almaty, Kazakhstan. UNHCR has National Offices in Astana, Kazakhstan; Bishkek, the Kyrgyz Republic; and Dushanbe, Tajikistan. The UNHCR Regional Humanitarian Logistics Hub is in Termez, Uzbekistan.

Explore the UNHCR Central Asia page to access additional information and UNHCR's news and stories related to in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.