Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Representatives of the governments of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan gathered on 17 May in Tashkent to reaffirm their commitment to ensuring that every child is registered at birth in their territories.

The capital of Uzbekistan is hosting a Central Asian conference on ensuring birth registration to prevent statelessness.

The conference was organized by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency in cooperation with the National Center of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Human Rights.

Statelessness is a situation where no state recognizes a person as its citizen. This problem affects millions of people around the world, including more than 37,000 in Central Asia alone. Stateless people are often denied access to basic rights such as education, employment, health care and freedom of movement.

Birth registration is the first and most important step in ensuring legal status and enabling people to actively participate in the development of society. This allows them to pay taxes, health care and social security contributions, and contributes to the sustainable development of their communities.

“We are proud to host this conference today and share with participants the successful practices of the Republic of Uzbekistan in registering births in order to eradicate statelessness,” said Akmal Saidov, First Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan and Director of the National Center for Human Rights.

“In 2018, Uzbekistan amended its legislation to guarantee birth registration for all children born on our territory, and in the last five years alone we have reduced the number of stateless persons by more than 75 percent,” he said.

Conference participants represented national administrations responsible for birth registration or involved in this process, including ministries of foreign affairs, internal affairs, justice and national human rights institutions, as well as international organizations.

“Providing legal identity documents for all, including birth registration, is enshrined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and is respected by all Central Asian countries as UN member states,” emphasized Ashita Mittal, Acting UN Resident Coordinator in Uzbekistan.

She noted that the UN commends the significant achievements of Central Asian countries in reducing and eradicating statelessness and is ready to support states in ensuring that forcibly displaced and stateless persons are not left behind and can contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

In 2014, UNHCR launched the #IBelong global campaign to end statelessness. As the ten-year campaign ends in 2024, governments around the world are stepping up their efforts in this direction.