PARTICIPATION OF THE DELEGATION OF TURKMENISTAN AT THE 69TH SESSION OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE PROGRAM OF THE UNHCR

On October 1 – 5, 2018, the delegation of Turkmenistan headed by the Deputy Chairman of the Migration Service of Turkmenistan S.B. Imamberdiev took part at the 69th session of the Executive Committee of the Program of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, held in Geneva, Switzerland.

The UNHCR Executive Committee (Executive Committee) meets annually in Geneva to review and approve the agency’s programs and budget, advice on international protection issues and discuss a number of other issues with UNHCR and intergovernmental and non-governmental partners. The current session of the Executive Committee of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Program brought together more than one thousand representatives from the 132 member countries of UNHCR.

On October 2, 2018, on the second day of the plenary session, delegation of Turkmenistan delivered a speech in which special emphasis was placed on the commitments of Turkmenistan under the SDGs to create orderly, safe, legal and responsible migration, which continues to be an imperative requirement of today.

The clear evidence of it is the practice of granting citizenship of Turkmenistan to refugees and stateless persons, primacy in the region of Central Asia in acceding to the conventions on statelessness, legislative reform, biometric identification of the identity of refugees and stateless persons - that in integrity are also achievements at the stages of implementation of the global 10-year UN plan to reduce statelessness that started in 2014.

Referring to the Global Plan of Action for the Elimination of Statelessness for the period 2014-2024, announced by the UNHCR High Commissioner on November 4, 2014, the call of which was supported by the resolution of the UN General Assembly, Turkmenistan indicated that most of the 10 actions in it executed both in the course of practice and in the course of adopting legislative measures.

The UN High Commissioner, commenting on the statement of the head of the delegation of Turkmenistan, expressed gratitude to the Government of Turkmenistan for the work done to reduce stateless persons, noting that our country's experience serves as a good example for other states and expressed hope for the continuation of such humane initiatives.