National laws usually grant nationality to children at birth based on a combination of two principles: the nationality of the parent(s) and the location of birth of the child. All African states provide for a child to acquire nationality based on descent, though some still discriminate on the basis of the sex of the parent.
The laws of around half of the countries in Africa provide automatic citizenship to children born in the territory themselves, or if their parents were also born there, or give the children of non-citizen parents the right to claim nationality if they are still resident there when they reach the age of majority. However, more than 20 countries either make no provision for children born on their territory to claim nationality if they have no other claim to nationality or do so only if the child is of unknown parentage.
The minimum requirement to prevent statelessness among children, required by the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, is for national laws to grant nationality to any child born in the territory who would otherwise be stateless. In addition, national laws should provide for children of unknown parents to be presumed to have the nationality of the country where they are found, for adopted children to acquire the nationality of their adoptive parents, and for children whose parents naturalise to acquire nationality at the same time.
By Daniel Nemukuyu The Registrar-General, Mr Tobaiwa Mudede, is being sued at the High Court for turning down requests by men who wish to acquire birth certificates for their children in the absence of the minors’ mothers. The RG’s Office…
By Bongekile Macupe Sonia Sigauke was only 10 years old when she dropped out of school in Mozambique. After seven years at home, aged 17, Sigauke came to South Africa to look for her mother. She had left Mozambique in…
(Tunis) – Mauritania’s national civil registration process is preventing some children from attending public school and taking mandatory national examinations, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should change its policies to ensure that no school-age child is deprived of…
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…
CRC/C/SYC/CO/5-6 Rights of the child to a name and nationality, to know and be cared for by his or her parents and to his or her identity 20.The Committee remains deeply concerned that no law has been enacted to ensure…
Refusing to suspend court order of 6 February while decision was appealed. Download judgment: Napier Jameson vs Childrens Court judgement 26Feb2018
The Sudanese Council of Ministers passed a bill amending the Sudanese Nationality Law on Sunday. Under the chairmanship of First Vice-President and Prime Minister, Lt. Gen. Bakri Hasan Saleh, the Ministers approved the amendments for 2018. Under the new amendments,…
Four years after systematic ethnic cleansing led Central African Republic’s Muslim community to flee to neighbouring countries, Enrica Picco explores the challenges facing returnees. At the beginning of the current crisis in the Central African Republic (CAR), from late 2013…
By Jill Cottrell-Ghai Citizenship, as an idea, has two main aspects. One is a rather technical, legal, one, conveyed also by the word ‘nationality’. The other is a broad, active concept, of the person as a member of a community,…
The Children’s Court of Johannesburg is ordered to permit an adoption of a Zimbabwean child to proceed, permitting the child to acquire South African citizenship. Download judgment: Napier Jameson vs Childrens Court judgement 6Feb2018