Citizenship in Liberia is governed by Chapter 4 of the 1986 Constitution and the 1973 Aliens and Nationality Law, as amended in 2022. Both the constitution and the law discriminate on the basis of race, stating that “only persons who are Negroes or of Negro descent shall qualify by birth or by naturalization to be citizens of Liberia.”
In 2022, the Aliens and Nationality Law was amended to remove discrimination in transmission of citizenship to children born outside Liberia. The amended law retained the statutory attribution of citizenship to every child born in Liberia (if of “negro descent”); the 1986 Constitution, however, provides explicitly for attribution of citizenship at birth only if either the father or mother is a Liberian citizen.
Until 2022, the combined effect of the Constitution and of the Aliens and Nationality Law was to prohibit dual citizenship for adults in all circumstances. A referendum held in 2020 to amend the Constitution to permit dual citizenship in all cases (among other propositions) did not succeed. The 2022 amendments to the law, however, permit a Liberian citizen who acquires another citizenship to retain Liberian citizenship. These amendments followed a 2019 Supreme Court decision which ruled that the statutory provision for automatic loss was unconstitutional. There remains ambiguity, however, in the case of a person with one Liberian and one foreign parent, required by the Constitution to renounce the other citizenship at adulthood and before the age of 23 if Liberian citizenship is to be retained.
In 2012, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed its concern about low rates of birth registration (less than 5 percent as recently as 2007; though increased to 66 percent of under fives by 2019-20), and also about the restriction of citizenship on the basis of color and racial origin. In 2015, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Against Women had also urged Liberia to remove gender discrimination in the law.
Civil war in Liberia led to large outflows of refugees to neighboring countries. Although the majority returned, a significant number remained in their host countries after UNHCR advised the invocation of the ‘ceased circumstances’ article of the Refugee Convention. Very few of these have been able to naturalise in their host countries ; some were deemed not to be Liberian citizens by the Liberian authorities and were therefore not able to regularise their status where they now live.
— Unanimously passes amendments to Aliens and Nationality Law of 2022 The House of Representatives has approved amendments to the Liberian Aliens and Nationality Law of 2022, unanimously removing restrictive clauses in the dual citizenship law. The revisions aim to […]
CAPITOL HILL, Monrovia – Representative Musa Hansan (Bility) District #7, Nimba County) has introduced a bill seeking the amendment of the Liberia Aliens and Nationality Law of 2022. In a statement accompanying the draft law, Rep. Bility described the proposal […]
Led by Eminent Emmanuel S. Wettee and his dedicated team, the All Liberian Conference on Dual Citizenship (ALCOD) has tirelessly championed reforms in the 2022 Dual Citizenship Act. A contentious issue their advocacy addresses is the law’s provision preventing Liberian-born […]
Bronwen Manby (European University Institute) On 13 June 2023, the South African Supreme Court of Appeal found to be unconstitutional the requirement established by the Citizenship Act for adults who voluntarily acquire another citizenship to gain permission to hold dual citizenship from the minister of […]
By R. Joyclyn Wea After granting him his Liberian Citizenship by Civil Law Court “B” in Liberia, Cllr. Austin Ndubuisi Nwabudike’s next move has met the bottleneck with the higher court holding his approval. The Supreme Court of Liberia is […]
By Obediah Johnson The Government of Liberia (GOL), through the Minister of Foreign Affairs Minister Dee Maxwell Kemayah has announced the revision of its national passports in keeping with the dual citizenship law passed in the country. It can be […]
Author: Urias Teh Pour Executive Director, Independent National Commission on Human Rights (INCHR), Liberia For the first time in the political history of Liberia, Liberians in the diaspora are making a strong case for their inclusion in the 2023 general […]
On July 25, 2022, Liberia enacted an amendment (Amendment Law) to the 1973 Aliens and Nationality Law (1973 Law). Among the key changes that the Amendment Law brought about are the replacement of a provision that allows only men to […]
By R. Joyclyn Wea The Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Court of Liberia are at each other’s throat, legally dabbling to fine-tune the authorization of Liberian citizenship or issuance of Liberian passport to natural born Liberian citizens in foreign […]
Says ALCOD’s Eminent Chairman Emmanuel S. Wettee The Eminent Chairman of the All-Liberian Conference on Dual Citizenship (ALCOD), Eminent Emmanuel S. Wettee, has come up to provide clarity on the new Dual Citizenship Law, saying it does not make natural-born […]
The President of the Republic, H.E. Dr. George Manneh Weah, has set yet another first-time-in-history record with the signing into law of a number of iconic bills towards spurring national inclusiveness and the fight against graft and corruption in the […]
The law, which ends a 1973 ban on dual nationality, is partly due to extensive campaigning by Liberians in the diaspora. By Dounard Bondo Liberia’s president has signed into law a bill that amends the country’s alien and nationality law. The […]