The African Charter, in common with all other international human rights treaties, prohibits discrimination in enjoyment of the other rights the Charter sets out. In the case of nationality, however, the law assumes some level of discrimination – because one of the criteria for acquisition of nationality is based on descent – and this is permitted by international law. However, certain types of discrimination are impermissible.
The most common form of discrimination in nationality laws is that men and women have different rights to transmit their nationality to their children. Although discrimination based on gender is rapidly reducing, there are still more a dozen countries in Africa that give a woman reduced rights to transmit nationality to a child, and more who limit transmission to her husband. In Africa, discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity and (in North Africa) religion, is also in place in around a dozen countries.
The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Article 18) also prohibits discrimination against disabled people in relation to the right to a nationality. Several countries have requirements for good health in relation to naturalisation that would not be in compliance with this provision.
In many countries there is no discriminatory element in the law itself but discrimination is pervasive in practice.
Poor Kenyan Somalis registered as Dadaab refugees to access benefits, but say they are now being refused nationality. by Osman Mohamed Osman Eastleigh, Kenya – In a restaurant in Eastleigh, a noisy Nairobi suburb, Shariff Omar, a Kenyan Somali, reaches…
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Since independence the Kenyan state has decided who is an “insider” and who is an “outsider” and which territorial spaces they should occupy. This has led to the politics of exclusion and marginalization based on geographical boundaries, religion or ethnic…
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When Mzee Kigongo, 76, received news that a local NGO would be offering free medical services to residents of Kwale County, he was overjoyed. He had hoped that he would finally get much needed medical attention for a neglected swollen…
By Robtel Neajai Pailey DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.852 Summary Though deeply contested, citizenship has come to be defined in gender-inclusive terms both as a status anchored in law, with attendant rights and resources, and as agency manifested in active political participation and…
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…
By Nezo Sobekwa, Luyanda Ndaba COMMENT “To be stateless is like you don’t exist; you live in a parallel world with no proof of your identity,” says Leal in a United Nations Refugee Agency video, Voices of Stateless: Leal’s Story…