Tajikistan has been identified as the most welcoming country in Central Asia for forced migrants, according to a recent survey conducted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
The UNHCR survey measured socio-economic conditions for forcibly displaced and stateless persons in 11 countries across the Asia and Pacific regions, including three in Central Asia - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, The Caspian Post reports citing Eurasianet.
UNHCR collected data from “household level” questionnaires circulated between late 2022 and last summer, covering individuals classified as refugees, internally displaced and stateless.
Tajikistan ranked the highest among all 11 countries surveyed in the areas of civil registration and secure property rights. According to the survey, every forced migrant in Tajikistan has obtained “legally recognized identity documents,” such as birth certificates, marriage certificates and government IDs. UNHCR did not report civil registration data for Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Papua New Guinea had the lowest reported percentage of forced migrants possessing government-issued documents, 22 percent.
“Tajikistan demonstrates strong performance in civil registration, with 100 percent of refugees holding documents recognized by national authorities as proof of identity and 84 percent of births among refugees being registered,” the survey states.
The Migration Data Portal shows Central Asian states in mid-2023 were hosting 21,814 registered refugees, 2,468 asylum seekers and 41,401 stateless persons. Virtually all those classified as refugees and about two-thirds of asylum seekers were originally from Afghanistan.
Over two-thirds of those surveyed in Tajikistan by UNHCR reported enjoying “secure tenure rights to housing,” while “property rights for forcibly displaced people in most countries remains below a third.”
Tajikistan also offered the best access to healthcare among Central Asian states, with 94 percent of respondents confirming regular opportunities to receive health services. In Kyrgyzstan, 74 percent of those surveyed reported having regular access; in Kazakhstan, only 37 percent enjoyed access.
In all three Central Asian states, forced migrants grappled with economic hardship. Just 58 percent of forced migrants in Tajikistan reported having bank accounts; no numbers were reported for Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Meanwhile, the survey showed unemployment rates for forced migrants in Kazakhstan at 36 percent, 16 percent in Kyrgyzstan and 17 percent in Tajikistan.
“In addition to restrictions on the right to work, factors such as labor market dynamics and private sector competitiveness appear to adversely impact income generation opportunities for forcibly displaced populations,” according to the UNHCR survey. The ease with which forced migrants in Tajikistan can obtain official documentation “does not appear to translate into positive economic outcomes.”
Kazakhstan reported the best numbers for children of forced migrants when it comes to access to education, although the survey contained a seeming anomaly with 71 percent of eligible children reported to be attending primary school, while 100 percent were attending secondary school. Kyrgyzstan reported enrollment rates of 77 percent for primary and 87 percent for secondary school; Tajikistan lagged far behind with rates of 25 percent/primary and 22 percent/secondary.
“Generally, the gross enrollment rate for primary school is higher than secondary school among the populations,” the UNHCR survey noted. The 100 percent rate for secondary school enrollment in Kazakhstan “may be attributed to adults seizing education opportunities to return to school.”
According to UNHCR, the survey results are intended to provide “evidence for enhanced advocacy and programming by exploring relationships between indicators within four thematic areas, covering legal status, social environment, basic needs and livelihoods.”
While refugee numbers have plummeted in Central Asia since reaching a peak in the early 2000s, a recently published UNHCR situation update for Afghanistan found that there were still 5.53 million Afghan refugees and asylum seekers in neighboring states, mainly Iran and Pakistan, as of mid-2024. In addition, 3.22 million Afghans were classified as internally displaced.
