Citizenship in Zambia is governed by the 1991 Constitution, as amended in 2016. The 2016 amendments repealed and replaced the citizenship provisions, permitting dual citizenship for the first time, providing for a presumption of citizenship in favour of children of unknown parents, and expanding rights to apply for citizenship for those born and resident in Zambia. Gender equality had already been implemented in relation to citizenship by descent — though not marriage — by amendments adopted in 1973.
The legislation providing more detail on acquisition and loss, the Zambia Citizenship Act 1975, was repealed and replaced following the adoption of the 2016 Constitution with a new Citizenship Act adopted in June 2016.
In its most recent concluding observations on Zambia, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child noted that while birth registration in Zambia has improved in recent years, it is unacceptably low.
The issue of citizenship has been raised in national elections. Questioning the citizenship of opponents is a tool which some Zambian politicians have used to try to discredit their opponents, some of which have resulted in arrests. Several cases have been heard by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, including the case concerning the citizenship of former president Kenneth Kaunda.
By Mwaka Ndawa THE State has argued that it has strictly followed the provisions of the Constitution in implementing the mobile registration exercise and in the issuance of National Registration Cards and has abided by the National Registration Act Chapter…
A total of 358 pledges were submitted on the occasion of the the High-Level Segment on Statelessness in October 2019. 252 of these pledges were delivered by States, 73 by civil society organizations, and 33 by international and regional organizations.…
Highlights from Africa: Angola acceded to both the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. The adoption of National Action Plans to Eradicate Statelessness in Niger, Eswatini and the…
LUSAKA, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) — Zambia and the African Union (AU) on Tuesday signed an agreement which allows the southern African nation to host the 5th International Conference for African Ministers responsible for civil registration and vital statistics. The conference…
Zambia has announced a National Action Plan to battle the statelessness becoming the first country in the SADC region which decided to implement such policies. This comes 5 years after the United Nations launched its decade-long campaign aimed at ending…
By Masuzyo Chakwe ZAMBIA has become the first country in the SADC region to come up with a National Action Plan to eradicate statelessness in the country. This is five years after the global campaign aimed at eradicating statelessness around…
Extracts: Mobilizing Governments and Civil Society From 16 to 18 April, a Ministerial Conference on the Eradication of Statelessness in the Great Lakes Region took place in Nairobi, Kenya. It was organized by the Government of Kenya, the International Conference…
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…
By Calum Handforth, Insights Manager (Digital Identity); Matthew Wilson, Senior Insights Manager (Digital Identity) Official proof of identity is fundamental to an individual’s ability to enforce their rights and secure access to a wide range of vital services such as…
GOVERNMENT has dismissed media reports suggesting that some border areas of Malawi have been ceded to Zambia during the re-demarcation exercise. Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources public relations Officer Diniwe Zulu clarified that no district or parts of the…