Access to citizenship in Mauritania is governed by the Loi N° 1961-112 portant code de la nationalité mauritanienne as modified most recently by Loi No 2010 – 023 and Loi No. 2021-016. The 2010 amendments removed provisions that attributed nationality automatically to a child born in Mauritania of a parent who was also born there (with the right to repudiate at majority if it was only the mother who was also born there). The 2010 law also altered the provision for access to nationality of women married to Mauritanian men from automatic recognition to requiring an application process. There is still no provision for the husbands of Mauritanian women to acquire nationality, and women cannot transmit nationality to their children born outside the country. In 2021, the law was further amended to permit dual nationality.
A critical issue related to citizenship in Mauritania has been the treatment of Mauritanians of black African descent. Mauritania is populated by three principal groups: lighter-skinned people of mixed Arab-Berber heritage, known as Beydanes; Arabic-speaking darker-skinned people known as Haratines, the descendants of former slaves; and those belonging to sub-Saharan ethnic groups, speaking a range of other languages. From the mid-1980s, the Mauritanian government undertook a policy of Arabisation, increasingly discriminating against non-Arabic speaking Mauritanians. In 1989, following a dispute between Senegalese farmers and Mauritanian pastoralists in the Senegal River Valley, an estimated 70,000-80,000 black Mauritanians were expelled to Senegal and Mali.
In 2005, a change in government opened the door to repatriation to Mauritania and approximately 25,000 Mauritanians returned with UNHCR assistance between 2008 and 2012. However, the returnees complain that they have been unable to access lost land or identity cards, and face ongoing discrimination. The introduction of a new identification system in 2010, in parallel with amendments to the nationality code, left many who claimed Mauritanian nationality unable to access new identity cards.
Nationality laws which do not grant women equality with men in conferring nationality to their children are a cause of statelessness and a concern for UNHCR under its mandate to prevent and reduce statelessness. Since 2012, UNHCR has issued an […]
Extracts relevant to Africa: Mobilizing governments and civil society On 20 August, in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, UNHCR and the International Conference for the Great Lakes Region convened a workshop to take stock of progress on the […]
Article Premier : Les dispositions des articles 30 (nouveau) et 31 (nouveau) de la loi n° 61–112 du 12 juin 1961, modifiée, portant code de la nationalité mauritanienne, sont modifiées ainsi qu’il suit : Article 30 (nouveau) : Perd la […]
L’Assemblée nationale a approuvé, au cours d’une séance publique tenue mardi matin, sous la présidence de M. Cheikh Ould Baya, son président, un projet de loi modifiant certaines dispositions de la loi n° 112-61 du 12 juin 1961 portant Code […]
Il est encore tôt pour apprécier à sa juste valeur l’écho suscité par l’adoption, la semaine passée, du gouvernement du décret relatif à la double nationale, qui attendra encore pour prendre effet, d’être soumis à l’adoption des députés, pour avoir toute sa […]
Par Oumlbenina Mint Bamba La double nationalité des mauritaniens à l’étranger était l’une des trois doléances exprimées en septembre 2019, par les expatriés mauritaniens résidents aux Etats Unis d’Amérique, au Président mauritanien fraichement élu Mohamed Ould Cheikh Ghazaouni, au cours […]
Le Conseil a adopté un projet de loi modifiant et abrogeant certaines dispositions de la loi n°61-112 du 12 juin 1961, modifiée portant code de la nationalité. Ce projet de loi vise à modifier l’article 30 (nouveau) du code de […]
NOUAKCHOTT, 16 juin (Xinhua) — Le gouvernement mauritanien a adopté ce mercredi au Conseil des ministres un projet de loi portant modification du Code de la nationalité pour autoriser la double nationalité à ses citoyens à moindre conditions. “Le président […]
Le Conseil des ministres s’est réuni le mercredi 16 Juin 2021 sous la présidence de Son Excellence Monsieur Mohamed Ould Cheikh El-Ghazouani, Président de la République. Le Conseil a examiné et adopté un projet de loi modifiant et abrogeant certaines […]
Un quart de la population mauritanienne est toujours sans état civil. Une situation qui perdure et que déplore le parlementaire et militant des droits de l’homme, président du mouvement abolitionniste (IRA-Mauritanie). Biram Dah Abeid a appelé, ce lundi 29 mars, […]
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, […]
Extract: Africa Nationality laws in six countries in Africa do not provide mothers equal rights as fathers to confer their nationality on their children, leading to a risk of statelessness for such children. Under the 1962 Citizenship Law of Somalia, […]