At independence, most countries in Africa discriminated on the basis of gender in the rules on transmission of citizenship to children and spouses. In recent years, however, nationality laws have increasingly been reformed to reduce or remove gender discrimination.
A substantial majority of African countries now give men and women equal rights to transmit nationality to their children; and roughly half provide equal rights to transmit nationality to a spouse.
These reforms are in line with the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) which prohibits discrimination in nationality law on the basis of gender: all African countries except Sudan and Somalia are parties to this treaty.
By Liz Orembo Nyangi, an 18-year-old woman in Kenya, was turned back for lack of documents when she went to register for Huduma Number. The unique number has been the talk in the village. Without it, she will not be…
Des représentants du ministère de la Justice ont exprimé leurs réserves, jeudi 16 mai 2019, lors d’une audience devant la commission de la santé et des affaires sociales de l’Assemblée des représentants du peuple, consacrée à l’examen du projet de…
Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) on Sunday has ruled that the second paragraph of article 6 for the law on Egyptian nationality is unconstitutional. The court said that the disputed paragraph limited acquiring Egyptian nationality to minor children of a…
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…
Amends articles 40 and 41 of the constitution to provide for gender equality in transmission of citizenship by marriage, and to permit dual citizenship (with restrictions on rights in Lesotho). Download: Lesotho Constitution 8th Amendment 2018
Highlights from Africa: On 25 and 26 October, UNHCR organized the annual “Nationality and Statelessness Moot Court Competition and Conference” in Mutare, Zimbabwe. The competition and conference aims to raise awareness and strengthen knowledge on nationality and statelessness among future…
Decision No. 002/2018; adopted at the 31st Ordinary Session of the ACERWC, May 2018; published 29 November 2018. IV: Decision of the Committee 104. For the foregoing reasons, the Committee finds that the Respondent State is in violation of its…
By Bronwen Manby Key findings and recommendations Extent of statelessness It is not possible to establish the number of stateless persons in the Partner States of the East African Community (EAC), but it is clear that there are tens of…