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.
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…
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in collaboration with the Ministry of Security and Social Development of the Republic of the Sudan organized a high-level workshop on the Sudanese women’s right to (pass) citizenship, on…
Two-thirds of Liberians want the exclusive black citizenship law in the country to be maintained, a new Afrobarometer survey reveals. The same proportion say only Liberian citizens should be allowed to own land. President George Weah has described these citizenship…
CRC/C/MRT/CO/3-5 Extract: Birth registration The Committee welcomes the measures taken to promote birth registration, including reforms of the civil registration system, introduction of biometric registration and expansion of registration centres. However, it remains concerned about the persisting low rate of…
Makhanda (Grahamstown) father desperate to keep his family together has won a landmark legal victory after a judge ruled that a law barring him from registering the birth of his child was unconstitutional. Liesl Muller, of Lawyers for Human Rights,…