Sudan: Caught in Statelessness
Published: 18/Apr/2018
Source: 7D News
What South Sudan’s Independence Means to Sudanese with Southern Ties
“I was told by officials that I was no longer Sudanese, and that I had to get South Sudanese citizenship and identification documents. I headed to the South Sudan embassy only to find that I am not recognised as South Sudanese either, and I was told to get the Sudanese citizenship papers,” said Iman Hassan Benjamin, a 23 year old woman who has had no identification card or citizenship since the independence of South Sudan in 2011.
Following independence, the Sudanese Nationality Act of 1994 was amended to remove nationality from hundreds of thousands of people who might be eligible for South Sudanese citizenship; they were immediately put at risk of statelessness. Article 10 (2) of the Act states: “A person will automatically lose his Sudanese nationality if he has acquired, de jure or de facto, the nationality of South Sudan.” Although Sudanese mothers can pass their nationality on to their children if the father is a foreigner, they cannot grant it to their children if the father is South Sudanese. The law does not allow dual citizenship with South Sudan.