DUSHANBE, November 17, 2014, Asia-Plus – Tajik Interior Minister Ramazon Rahimzoda received Mr. Kevin Allen, UNHCR Representative in Tajikistan, on November 15.
According to the Interior Ministry’s website, the sides discussed issues related to cooperation between the sides in working with refugees and stateless people.
Tajik minister, in particular, that the Interior Ministry is ready to cooperate with the UNHCR Office within the framework of Tajikistan’s legislation, the source said.
UNHCR opened an office in Tajikistan in 1993, when the country was torn by civil war two years after the country declared its independence from the Soviet Union. That year, Tajikistan became the first country in Central Asia to accede to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. It was also the first country in the region to adopt national refugee legislation. UNHCR has helped people displaced by the civil war to return home as well as assisting refugees.
According to information posted on the UN Refugee Agency’s website, Tajikistan hosts some 4,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, mostly of Afghan origin. They cannot choose their place of residence, as they are not allowed to live in the major cities, including Dushanbe. In 2013, UNHCR has donated equipment and helped introduce new software that provided the Government with a modern refugee registration system. The organization has also helped the Government to revise its citizenship law and participated in a working group that has amended the national refugee law. Both laws are now awaiting approval by Parliament.
