DUSHANBE, February 22, Asia-Plus — Some 3,300 foreign citizens have a status of refugees in Tajikistan.
Ms. Parvina Munavvarova, public relations officer, UNHCR Country Office in Tajikistan, remarked this at an information session for journalists in Dushanbe n February 21.
“UNHCR CO Tajikistan now provides assistance to some 5,000 people needing international protection, primarily refugees and asylum seekers,” said Ms. Munavvarova. “The overwhelming majority of refugees living in Tajikistan – approximately 90 percent – are nationals of Afghanistan. There is also a certain number of refugees from Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.”
Under Tajikistan’s legislation, the refugee card is issued for the period of three years. UNHCR CO Tajikistan has offered to remove timetable for introducing refugee card. “Tajik parliament is currently working on making amendments to the law “On Refugees” and we hope our proposals will be taken into consideration,” Munavvarova 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.
In 2012, UNHCR will register and profile people of concern using modern data collection and management tools. It will build capacity in refugee status determination (RSD), and seek to improve the self-reliance of refugees and asylum-seekers. Since almost all of the refugees in Central Asia are in urban areas, implementation of a policy addressing their needs will be a priority. In this respect, each office in Central Asia will draw on lessons learned from the implementation of the urban refugee policy piloted in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, and develop its own country-specific strategy, jointly with the local authorities, to respond to the needs of asylum-seekers and refugees in urban settings.
In Tajikistan, UNHCR will work with the local authorities to develop national RSD procedures. Since the situation in Afghanistan and overall instability in the region could cause new arrivals of asylum-seekers in Tajikistan, priority will be given to updating the contingency plan and improving emergency preparedness through continuous monitoring and capacity-building of relevant government entities. Tajikistan is a pilot country for UNHCR”s urban policy project. A countrywide profiling exercise of urban refugees will be implemented in 2012. The priorities will be to improve freedom of movement and residence, reception facilities, RSD, and data collection as well as to seek more livelihood opportunities and durable solutions.
