The African Union recognises 14 states in the East Africa region, of which five – Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and (from 2016) South Sudan, joined by Burundi (from the Central Africa region) – are also members of the East African Community (EAC), one of the regional economic communities also recognised by the AU. The EAC, re-launched in 2000, aims to create a similar zone of free movement as that which ECOWAS has established in West Africa; in 2016 Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda started issuing a common form biometric passport.
The East African region has some of the most severe challenges relating to statelessness in Africa. These include the consequences of the collapse of government in Somalia which has led to a large outflow of refugees, many of whom have been unable to integrate as nationals in neighbouring states despite long residence. The processes creating Eritrea and South Sudan, which have split from Ethiopia and Sudan, have also left large populations at risk of statelessness. Somaliland and Puntland also claim independence from Somalia, and have been issuing ID cards, but have not been recognised by the African Union.
The legal traditions of the region vary very widely, but, like other regions of Africa, East African countries increasingly permit dual nationality and respect equal rights of men and women; though discrimination on the basis of sex remains in place in several countries. A handful of laws, including in Uganda and Somalia, explicitly restrict access to citizenship on the basis of ethnicity; in others such discrimination is widespread in practice.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has shared with the Government of Kenya a proposed set of sustainable and rights-based measures aimed at identifying solutions for refugees living in the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps in Kenya. UNHCR recognizes the tremendous…
By Shaban Omar Through the international push to end statelessness, Kenya has made significant strides in recognising minority groups. Many non-citizens born in the country can now access birth certificates, proper healthcare, education and security. Pemba community chairman Shaame Hamisi…
by SHABAN OMAR Sada Makame, a member of the Pemba community in Kwale county, has spent her whole life feeling devastated and uncomfortable on the only land she calls home. Her voice breaks as she recounts her story, while tears…
The Everyone Counts! initiative was launched in the fall of 2020 with a firm commitment to a simple principle: the digital transformation of the state can only qualify as a success if everyone’s human rights are respected. Nowhere is this…
60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1961 CONVENTION 2021 marks the 60th anniversary of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. The 1961 Convention is the only universal instrument that elaborates clear and concrete safeguards to prevent the occurrence of statelessness.…
Governments around the world are increasingly making registration in national ID systems mandatory for populations to access social benefits, healthcare services, and other forms of state support. By virtue of their design, these systems inevitably exclude certain population groups from…
NAIROBI (HORN OBSERVER) – Kenya authorities on Friday denied IDs to hundreds of Somali people who lived in Kenya’s coastal region for more than thirty years barely two days after the East Africa nation ordered UN to draft a plan…
Sudan is changing its rules for Syrians wishing to reside in the country after years of being able to travel to Sudan without a visa, and the right to work, education and medical care. Since the outbreak of the civil…
Update of annual report on gender equality. Overview of Nationality Laws Middle East and North Africa […] The nationality laws of Jordan and Libya do not allow women married to foreign nationals to pass their nationality to their children. However,…
Paul Rusesabagina’s submissions before the court on Wednesday, February 17, invoked a legal technicality that he did not take time to inform himself about. He claimed that he denounced his Rwandan nationality and thus cannot be tried by a Rwandan…