Azizbek Ashurov

Azizbek Ashurov is a Kyrgyz lawyer who was born in Uzbekistan. He is the founder of Ferghana Valley Lawyers Without Borders organization and helped the Kyrgyzstan government become the first to end statelessness.

He was awarded the Nansen Refugee Award in 2019.

Personal life

Ashurov and his family moved from Uzbekistan to Kyrgyzstan after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.[1] Despite his legal training, he struggled to navigate the process of getting Kyrgyz citizenship.[1]

Career

Ashurov helped set Ferghana Valley Lawyers Without Borders organisation to support statement people in Kyrgyzstan obtain citizenship and then collaborated with the Kyrgyzstan government on efforts to end statelessness in Kyrgyzstan, and an amnesty on all fines levied towards stateless people.[1][2] Ashurov travelled by car and by horse to support undocumented people in remote parts of Kyrgyzstan, and the final 13,000 stateless people obtained citizenship in 2019, making Kyrgyzstan the first country to end statelessness.[3]

In 2019, Ashurov was awarded the Nansen Refugee Award.[4]

References
  1. "'Tenacious' Kyrgyz lawyer and statelessness champion, wins prestigious UNHCR prize". UN News. 2019-10-02. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
  2. Wood, Colleen (31 October 2019). "Kyrgyzstan Eradicates Statelessness, Challenges Remain". The Diplomat. ProQuest 2310633664.
  3. "Nobel Peace Center". Nobel Peace Center. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
  4. Fossen, Magnus (2019-10-13). "– Vidkun Quisling var ikke bare ond". www.abcnyheter.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2022-09-04.
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