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.
Lawyers for Human Rights (“LHR”) welcomes the judgment handed on 19 May 2020 by Rugunanan J of the Makhanda High Court where it confirmed the right of unmarried fathers to register the births of their children. This appeal follows the…
By Ray Hartle The legal ban on an unmarried father registering his child’s birth has been lifted by three judges of the high court in Makhanda, changing the status of countless “invisible” children whose births are not reflected on the…
[2020] ZAECGHC 43 (19 May 2020) JUDGMENT RUGUNANAN, J: [1] Before us is an appeal, with the leave of the Court a quo, in which section 10 of the Births and Death Registration Act [1] (“the Act”) is laid at…
By Abdullah Mwinyi On November 4, 1985, at Diamond Jubilee Hall, Mwalimu Nyerere addressed Tanzanians for the last time as President of the United Republic. He had been at the helm for 24 years, first as President of Tanganyika and…
By Christine Hobden (University of Fort Hare), GLOBALCIT collaborator. In June 2019, a South African Non-Profit Organisation, Lawyers for Human Rights, applied to the South African Constitutional Court for confirmation of a High Court order declaring unconstitutional the provisions of…
By Jeanne-Marié Versluis Hundreds of children in South Africa are not having their births registered, simply because their parents are unmarried and the department of home affairs does not recognise the complexities surrounding these cases. This perpetuates the notion that…
Her victory comes on the heels of recent positive court rulings and paves the way for her children to continue their education, find work and belong to their country. By Mohamed Elfatih Elnaiem in Khartoum, Sudan When South Sudan gained…
By Christy Chitengu There appears to be a general consensus within the South African government that children born in the country from non-South African parents are not ‘really’ South African. Having been in this predicament myself, I beg to differ…
Five years since the adoption of the Abidjan Declaration on the Eradication of Statelessness by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency is lauding progress and urging a redoubling of efforts. This is to…
Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi affirms that children born in South Africa to foreign parents are now eligible to apply for South African citizenship. Watch on eNews Channel Africa (eNCA): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7ulrcn_Lcc