Citizenship in the Central African Republic is set forth in the 1961 nationality code, as amended most recently in 1984. The code provides that the child of one Central African parent obtains nationality, wherever the child is born; but also that a child born in the country of two foreign parents can acquire nationality by declaration while still a minor. The 1984 amendments repealed a 1966 provision that naturalisation required 35 years residence, to restore the previous requirement for 5 years residence.
The law stipulates the conditions under which a woman who marries a Central African acquires Central African nationality. However, it does not allow Central African women to pass their citizenship to their foreign spouses.
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has expressed concern over the low levels of birth registration in the Central African Republic, which has led to violations of the right to a nationality for children whose birth has not been registered.
The ethno-religous violence that broke out in the Central African Republic in 2013 has been accompanied by accusations that many Muslims are of Chadian origin and not entitled to Central African nationality.
Extracts: From 16-18 April 2019 in Nairobi, Kenya, the Government of Kenya, the Executive Secretariat of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) and the United High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) co-organised a Ministerial Conference on the Eradication…
We, experts of the Member States (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Congo and Chad) and Partner States (Democratic Republic of Congo and São Tomé and Príncipe) of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC),…
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Four years after systematic ethnic cleansing led Central African Republic’s Muslim community to flee to neighbouring countries, Enrica Picco explores the challenges facing returnees. At the beginning of the current crisis in the Central African Republic (CAR), from late 2013…
Globally, millions of people including many in the Great Lakes Region are stateless or at risk of statelessness. They cannot enjoy the full range of human rights. Among the causes of statelessness in the Great Lakes Region are gaps in…
The Heads of State and Government of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), meeting in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, on 19th October, 2017 under the theme “Fast-Tracking Implementation of the Pact to Facilitate Stability and Development in…
By Laura Angela Bagnetto For Idrissa Haroum, the decision was pure and simple– he wants to live where he is accepted. The 55-year-old Muslim from the Central African Republic says that he was called a Chadian in his own country.…
Reaffirms commitments of ICGLR Member States to end statelessness, in support of the UNHCR #IBelong campaign. Download Declaration: here. The declaration was endorsed by the ICGLR summit of heads of state in October 2017.
By Elsa Buchanan Humanitarian organisations in Chad have commenced an identification operation to help Chadian returnees at risk of statelessness to get documentation. With nearly 400,000 refugees on its territory, including more than 71,000 people from the Central African Republic…
CRC/C/CAF/CO/2 Birth registration name and nationality 32.The Committee welcomes the measures taken to promote birth registration, in particular decree No. 14.228 of 2014 providing free birth registration to children born during the conflict that took place between 2012 and 2014,…