Kyrgyzstan commits to action at the 2023 Global Refugee Forum

With global forced displacement reaching unprecedented levels, in December 2023, representatives of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic joined over 4,200 others – including government, business and non-profit leaders – from 168 countries, at the three-day Global Refugee Forum to address urgent challenges and long-term solutions.

Held every four years, the Global Refugee Forum is the largest international conference on refugee issues, with government delegations from all five Central Asian countries participating.

Reaffirming its dedication to "leave no one behind", the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic made five pledges, focusing on education, as well as legal aid and data. 

Recognizing education as a basic human right, and the significant value of quality education to the country’s sustainable development, the Kyrgyz Republic pledged to provide refugees with equal access to higher education opportunities, including ensuring that tuition fees are the same as for Kyrgyz citizens by the end of 2027. In support of children who are stateless or at risk of statelessness, the Kyrgyz Republic pledged to ensure that, regardless of legal status of parents or their registration status in the country, all children have access to secondary education by the end of 2024. 

The American University of Central Asia in Bishkek further pledged to offer refugees free summer language courses to support their integration into host communities, and to incorporate a Refugee Law course into its curriculum to empower legal professionals with specialized knowledge. 

The Kyrgyz Republic also committed to provide refugees, asylum-seekers, stateless persons, and individuals seeking "Kairylman" status with access to State-provided free legal aid by the end of 2024; to introduce a database for advanced data collection to improve its refugee status determination procedure; and to automate information exchange between State agencies for birth statistics to prevent statelessness, by the end of 2024. 

Together with UN teams in 49 other countries, the UN Country Team the Kyrgyz Republic contributed to the UN Common Pledge 2.0, committing to support host countries in integrating refugees and stateless persons into national systems, like education and healthcare, and to boost refugees’ access to decent work.

As of January 2024, the Kyrgyz Republic hosts 113 mandate and 132 convention refugees, 1,206 asylum-seekers, and 20 known stateless people. 

The UN stands ready to support the Kyrgyz Republic in implementation of its pledges, enabling forcibly displaced and displaced people to contribute to the country’s achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.