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.
THE Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) has bemoaned the deprivation of national documentation on inter-sex persons, saying current national statutes only categorised hermaphrodites as male and female only. A ZHRC report on the National Inquiry on Access to Documentation says…
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (extract) Access to documentation is a fundamental human right. It is a right upon which other rights can be enjoyed. National documents establish the legal relationship between a citizen and his or her country and they give rise…
By Nicole Breen Under current South African law – now being challenged in the Constitutional Court – a child’s birth cannot be registered if the person registering the birth is an unmarried father and is doing so without consent of…
By Nimah Arigbabu and Oyinkan Akintola-Bello From the beginning of time, women have played varying roles, albeit behind the scenes in most instances, in shaping matters of foreign relations. Maids, domestic workers, female diplomats, women married to diplomats, mistresses and…
A statement by the Southern African Nationality Network (SANN) to the 16th Southern African Civil Society Forum. Hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of Africans are stateless and do not have access to a nationality and the rights connected with it.…
Extract: Africa Nationality laws in six countries in Africa do not provide mothers equal rights as fathers to confer their nationality on their children, leading to a risk of statelessness for such children. Under the 1962 Citizenship Law of Somalia,…
UPR 37th Session; 3rd Cycle; January/February 2021 Joint submission by: Association des femmes chefs de Famille SOS-Esclaves Anti-slavery International Minority Rights Group International Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion Recommendations: Based on the above information,…
By Donu Kogbara WHEN it was announced, two days ago, that Mrs Opunimi (or Nimi) Akinkugbe was the Governor of Ondo State’s ambassadorial nominee, some Ondo indigenes got miffed and decided to kick up a huge fuss. Their beef? Though…
Proposition de loi n°001/2019 modifiant et complétant certaines dispositions de l’Ordonnance n° 60-064 du 22 juillet 1960, modifiée par la loi nº 61-052 du 13 décembre 1961, la loi nº 62-005 du 6 juin 1962, l’ordonnance nº 73-049 du 27…
Prévue hier, l’adoption de la proposition de loi modifiant le Code de la nationalité a été finalement ajournée par les sénateurs. Les membres de la Chambre haute ont jugé que le texte devait passer au crible avant son adoption. Les…