BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 6. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is assisting Turkmenistan in developing its capacity to work with refugees, UNHCR Representative for Central Asia, Hans Friedrich Schodder told Trend.
"Since 1995, the UNHCR has been assisting Turkmenistan in developing its capacity to receive refugees, determine their status, and provide assistance, protection and integration. Thus, Turkmenistan has accepted, protected and integrated thousands of refugees, mainly from Afghanistan," the UNHCR representative said.
He noted that the organization works closely with the Turkmen Government to support the eradication of statelessness, and also added that for this purpose, in January 2019, Turkmenistan approved a National Action Plan to End Statelessness.
"UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is mandated by the UN General Assembly to support and monitor states’ protection, humanitarian assistance, and local integration of refugees. The organization is also instructed to provide support to both Turkmenistan and other countries in identifying, preventing and reducing statelessness, as well as in protecting stateless persons," the representative of the organization added.