2015 End-year reportDownloaded on 18/11/2016

Subregion: Central Asia

| Kazakhstan | Kyrgyzstan | Tajikistan | Turkmenistan | Uzbekistan |

Latest update of camps and office locations 13 Jan 2016. By clicking on the icons on the map, additional information is displayed.

Kuwait City (Liaison Office)Dalbandin

Kerman Quetta

New Delhi*

Loralai

Bishkek

Almaty

Kabul (FU)

Khost

Dushanbe

Haripur

Kunduz

Kohat

Esfahan

DogharounHerat

Tehran*

Mashad

Kandahar

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Budgets and Expenditure in Subregion Central Asia

People of Concern - 2015

Mill

ions

(US

D)

Budget Expenditure

2012 2013 2014 20157.5

10

12.5

15

17.5

20

22.5

25

Refugees

Refugees

3 164

3 164

Asylum-seekers

Asylum-seekers

543

543

Stateless

Stateless

130 324

130 324

Others of concern

Others of concern

53

53

Refugees Asylum-seekers Stateless Others of concern

Response in 2015In 2015, Central Asian countries experienced significant devaluations of their national currencies throughout thesubregion. As a result, the prices for goods and services, as well as unemployment rates increased during thesecond half of 2015, making persons of concern to UNHCR more vulnerable.

UNHCR’s regional office located in Almaty, Kazakhstan continued to oversee operational activities in Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. In 2015, UNHCR operations in Central Asia focused on threeregional strategic goals: improving national asylum systems; identifying solutions for the current refugee population;and working to reduce and prevent statelessness. Nearly 14,000 of the over 100,000 persons with undeterminednationality in Central Asia acquired citizenship in 2015.

By year end, the subregion hosted over 3,100 refugees, 94 per cent of whom were Afghans, as well asapproximately 550 asylum-seekers. In 2015 all countries in the subregion with the exception of Uzbekistan weresignatories to the 1951 Refugee Convention. With refugee status determination (RSD) procedures largelyestablished across most Central Asian operations, UNHCR began shifting its engagement from mandate RSDactivities to the provision of technical advice and support for government authorities. Country offices in Tajikistanand Kazakhstan further shifted their operational focus from the provision of individual assistance to helping secureself-reliance and livelihood opportunities for refugees.

Despite progress on a number of fronts, growing national security concerns throughout the subregion have had anadverse effect on the protection environment, specifically in relation to strengthening national asylum systems.

OperationsOperations in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are presented in separate country pages.

Turkmenistan: Turkmenistan is party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and Protocol and both StatelessnessConventions. By the end of 2015, the country hosted 26 refugees recognized by UNHCR in a situation of protracteddisplacement, as well as an estimated 7,000 stateless individuals. The devaluation of the national currency at thebeginning of the year had a critical impact on UNHCR’s planned activities. Despite these challenges, theGovernment of Turkmenistan granted citizenship to 8 refugees and 353 stateless people in 2015, bringing the totalnumber of individuals granted citizenship since 2011 to some 5,000. Following an operational review carried out inSeptember 2015, activities in Turkmenistan will be overseen by UNHCR’s Regional Office in Almaty, as of July2016.

Uzbekistan: By the end of 2015, Uzbekistan hosted approximately 100 refugees, almost all originating fromAfghanistan. National security concerns, linked to the threat of extremism and terrorism, hampered efforts topromote a favourable protection environment for refugees and asylum-seekers; further improvements are requiredin the country’s legal and administrative framework related to asylum. Local integration in Uzbekistan remaineddifficult, although a certain level of socio-economic integration was de facto achieved for refugees who were able toacquire permanent residency permits.

2015 Voluntary Contributions to Central Asia | USD

2015 Voluntary Contributions to Central Asia | USD

Earmarking / DonorPillar 2

Stateless programmePillar 4

IDP projectsAll

pillarsTotal

Central Asia overall

United States of America 0 0 2,200,000 2,200,000

Central Asia overall subtotal 0 0 2,200,000 2,200,000

Kazakhstan Regional Office

Kazakhstan 0 0 187,873 187,873

UNDP 114,130 0 0 114,130

Kazakhstan Regional Office subtotal 114,130 0 187,873 302,003

Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan 0 0 71,154 71,154

UN Peacebuilding Fund 0 570,978 0 570,978

Kyrgyzstan subtotal 0 570,978 71,154 642,132

Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan 0 0 94,090 94,090

Turkmenistan subtotal 0 0 94,090 94,090

Total 114,130 570,978 2,553,117 3,238,225

Note: Includes indirect support costs that are recovered from contributions to Pillars 3 and 4, supplementary budgets and the

“New or additional activities – mandate-related” (NAM) Reserve.