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UNHCR helps refugees in Kyrgyzstan make it through the winter

News Stories, 22 April 2009

© UNHCR/S.Plotnikov
Refugees gather at a distribution point in Bishkek and collect bags of rice and other aid.

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, April 22 (UNHCR) – Hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers in Kyrgyzstan have thanked UNHCR for providing them with winter aid, saying it had helped them survive at a time of economic hardship. Their expressions of gratitude came as the refugee agency said it was extending the special winterization programme until the end of May.

Abdullah,* who has lived with his family in Bishkek for the past 10 years, said the aid, including blankets, had "saved lives and brought hope to refugees in very difficult times." The Afghan refugee added that "a steep increase in food prices made our live in Kyrgyzstan very difficult" as winter approached, but the UN assistance ensured that he, his wife and their seven children made it through the cold months.

Another Afghan refugee, Salma,* said that until UNHCR helped her and her family, "We did not not have electricity in our apartment in Bishkek and were forced to eat cold food. Sometimes we did not have anything to eat," she said.

Last summer, the UN country team in Kyrgyzstan started to prepare an aid package for the most vulnerable people in the Central Asian country, including the estimated 1,000 refugees and asylum seekers who live here.

UNHCR and its sister agencies believed they needed to intervene to avert a humanitarian crisis amid rising fuel and food prices, and erratic electricity supplies. A UN Humanitarian Flash Appeal was launched to raise funds, some of which were diverted to UNHCR for its winter operation.

The winterization project began in October, when UNHCR distributed mattresses and blankets. By mid-March, more than 850 asylum seekers and refugees had also each received three months of food aid from UNHCR, including rice, cooking oil and sugar.

Distribution points were established in the capital, Bishkek, and in Osh, while UNHCR's implementing partners delivered aid to people who could not make it to these cities. The World Food Programme, meanwhile, distributed food to tens of thousands of needy Kyrgyz people and non-refugees.

The refugees and asylum seekers also welcomed last week's announcement that UNHCR was able to extend the winter aid programme until the end of next month, thanks to funds from the UN's Central Emergency Response Fund, which was launched in 2006 to ensure that funds are available immediately in response to disasters and emergencies.

"Thank you very much for this timely help. Only the day before yesterday, my wife and I were thinking about oil and flour. We had only half a litre at home and we don't have money to buy more," said Yuldash,* a refugee from Uzbekistan. "Now we can eat normally three times a day."

Suna,* a 38-year-old who fled from persecution in Afghanistan, said the fresh aid – including more food – could not have come at a better time. "For the next few months, me and my husband will not have to torment ourselves trying to think how we can feed our seven sons." She and her family would like to integrate here.

"We greatly appreciate this support and its extension," Hans Schodder, UNHCR's representative in Kyrgyzstan, said of the Central Emergency Response Fund. "It saved lives and helped to restore the dignity of many refugees and asylum seekers."

* Names have been changed for protection reasons

By Cholpon Sultanova in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

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The crisis in Kyrgyzstan

UNHCR was monitoring the returns of refugees and other displaced people to southern Kyrgyzstan as tens of thousands of people headed back to their communities. Violent clashes in Osh and other cities in southern Kyrgyzstan earlier this month had sent an estimated 300,000 fleeing to the countryside, while 100,000 had fled across the border into Uzbekistan.

Days after the attacks, Kyrgyz authorities were still trying to restore law and order in the south, where they reported that some 180 people were killed and 1,900 injured. Many of the internally displaced have been staying with host families with many also sleeping rough. In Uzbekistan, authorities reported more than 50 sites hosting refugees in the border provinces of Andijan, Ferghana and Namangan. Some refugees were staying in schools and other public buildings.

UNHCR has provided more than 300 tonnes of emergency assistance in a series of relief flights over the past week, working with the concerned governments and local partners in sometimes hazardous conditions.

The crisis in Kyrgyzstan

Statelessness in Kyrgyzstan

Two decades after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, thousands of people in former Soviet republics like Kyrgyzstan are still facing problems with citizenship. UNHCR has identified more than 20,000 stateless people in the Central Asian nation. These people are not considered as nationals under the laws of any country. While many in principle fall under the Kyrgyz citizenship law, they have not been confirmed as nationals under the existing procedures.

Most of the stateless people in Kyrgyzstan have lived there for many years, have close family links in the country and are culturally and socially well-integrated. But because they lack citizenship documents, these folk are often unable to do the things that most people take for granted, including registering a marriage or the birth of a child, travelling within Kyrgyzstan and overseas, receiving pensions or social allowances or owning property. The stateless are more vulnerable to economic hardship, prone to higher unemployment and do not enjoy full access to education and medical services.

Since independence in 1991, Kyrgyzstan has taken many positive steps to reduce and prevent statelessness. And UNHCR, under its statelessness mandate, has been assisting the country by providing advice on legislation and practices as well as giving technical assistance to those charged with solving citizenship problems. The refugee agency's NGO partners provide legal counselling to stateless people and assist them in their applications for citizenship.

However, statelessness in Kyrgyzstan is complex and thousands of people, mainly women and children, still face legal, administrative and financial hurdles when seeking to confirm or acquire citizenship. In 2009, with the encouragement of UNHCR, the government adopted a national action plan to prevent and reduce statelessness. In 2011, the refugee agency will help revise the plan and take concrete steps to implement it. A concerted effort by all stakeholders is needed so that statelessness does not become a lingering problem for future generations.

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