On this page, you will find:
To find organisations working for LGBTQI+ rights, visit our Uzbekistan LGBTQI+ Resources page.
For Uzbekistan country of origin information (COI) experts, reports, commentaries, and relevant documents visit our Uzbekistan COI page.
Refugee protection
Click here to see the numbers and origins of refugees hosted by Uzbekistan.
The following sections contain information on the most important international treaties and agreements of which Uzbekistan is signatory, as well as national legislation relevant to the protection of refugees.
In 2022, the National Centre of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Human Rights (NHRC), and the UNHCR held a workshop in Tashkent to present a legal analysis of the legislation and practice of Uzbekistan in the context of the prospects of acceding to the 1951 Refugees Convention and its 1967 Protocol. Despite this, Uzbekistan has not yet acceded to them.
Further, whilst Uzbekistan hosts a large number of stateless persons, it is not a party to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons nor the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.
Since 2018, Uzbekistan has worked with the UNHCR to expand their asylum legal framework to move towards international standards for refugee and asylum seeker protection.
However, presently, there is no national legislation, structure or mechanism in place to deal with asylum-seekers and refugees. Asylum-seekers and refugees in the country are therefore considered to be migrants, regulated by migration legislation.
In 2020, they passed the Citizenship Law which conferred citizenship to registered stateless people who were granted permanent residence in Uzbekistan before 1 January 1995, while simultaneously establishing simplified naturalization procedures.
Legal aid organisations
Website
Address: Republic of Uzbekistan, Bukhara, Dzh. Ikramii Street 7/2, 705000
Tel: + 998906353986
Email: shuhrat9@gmail.com or shuhrat_ganiev1@mail.ru
Contact person: Ganiev Shukhrat, Director
The Humanitarian Legal Center in Bukhara supports legal and humanitarian activities and the development of civil society in three regions of Uzbekistan: Bukhara, Sukhandarya, and Kashkandarya. It implements programmes to assist refugees and migrants in Uzbekistan, mainly Uzbeks – Kyrgyz citizens affected by the ethnic conflict in southern Kyrgyzstan.
Organisations providing other support to refugees
Website
Address: Musahanova str 80/1, 700047 Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Tel: +998 662 330084 / +998 937206298
Email: caritas.uzb@gmail.com/caritas_uzbekistan@agnaz.info
Caritas Uzbekistan works to improve access to affordable medicine for the vulnerable, particularly the elderly and children. It also operates a soup kitchen to provide weekly meals to the poor, sick and underprivileged, including refugees and migrants. Additionally, they provide after-school programmes for children to help develop their social and sporting skills.
Uzbekistan LGBTQI+ Resources
Find organisations working for refugee LGBTQI+ rights in Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan COI
Find Uzbekistan Country of Origin information (COI) experts, reports, commentaries, and relevant documents.
We are always looking to expand the resources on our platform. If you know about relevant resources, or you are aware of organisations and/or individuals to include in our directories, please get in touch.
Last updated May 2023