The 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons defines a “stateless person” as a person whom no state considers to be a national under the operation of its law (Article 1(1)). UNHCR Guidelines adopted in 2012 elaborate that deciding if a person is stateless is a “mixed question of fact and law”, so that “Where the competent authorities treat an individual as a non-national even though he or she would appear to meet the criteria for automatic acquisition of nationality under the operation of a country’s laws, it is their position rather than the letter of the law that is determinative in concluding that a State does not consider such an individual as a national”.
The international norm that statelessness is to be avoided has been steadily strengthened in the international and African human rights regimes. In the African system, the General Comment No.2 adopted by the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child emphasises these protections.
Among the countries in Africa where UNHCR recognises that there are major populations at risk of statelessness are Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, South Africa, Sudan and Zimbabwe. In Côte d’Ivoire and DRC the failure to recognise the nationality of large populations belonging to particular ethnic groups has been one of the main causes of conflict in those countries.
The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has heard complaints in several cases where people have been rendered stateless by individual and arbitrary decisions to deprive them of their nationality. Most cases, of course, never reach the national courts, still less a hearing by the African Commission.
Statelessness and lack of recognition of nationality have a devastating effect on respect for other rights. Without proof that a person is a national of the country where they live – or of any other country – a person may be unable to work, to access health care and education, to hold secure rights to land and other property, or to enforce any of these claims in court.
Egypt has recently granted citizenship to three brothers from the Sinai Peninsula, renewing calls by other stateless individuals, mainly tribesmen, to receive the citizenship as they are deprived of their most basic rights. The Egyptian Ministry of Interior has recently…
As the Covid-19 virus has spread across the world, we were all beset with fear and uncertainty that has now somewhat abated by the emergence of a vaccination. However, for vulnerable groups such as refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons,…
In an open letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa, Lawyers for Human Rights calls on him to denounce xenophobia to halt the cycle of exclusion of and discrimination against asylum seekers, migrants and undocumented persons. By Tshegofatso Mothapo Dear President Ramaphosa,…
By KEVIN ROTICH For decades, the Shona community endured socio-economic challenges before President Uhuru Kenyatta recognised them as a Kenyan tribe on December 12, 2020. This can be traced to between the 1950s and 1960s when their ancestors first came…
Extracts relevant to Africa: Mobilizing Governments and Civil Society On 7 November, the Consolidated Action Plan of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) on the Eradication of Statelessness (2017-2024) was validated during a regional inter-ministerial committee meeting.…
Amnesty international Bénin a organisé vendredi, 08 janvier 2021 à l’Infosec à Cotonou, un atelier de concertation interministérielle et de certaines agences sur la prise en compte de la question de l’apatridie dans les réformes sur l’état civil au Bénin…
Updates including information on the 6th anniversary of the #IBELONG campaign to end statelessness UNHCR Southern Africa Statelessness Newsletter EN Oct-Dec 2020 UNHCR Afrique australe Apatridie Bulletin FR oct-dec 2020 UNHCR IBELONG 6th anniversary Southern Africa
By Brenda Mulinya NAIROBI – Members of the ethnic Shona community in Kenya are celebrating their new status as Kenyan citizens after decades of being stateless. Nazizi Dube gazes at what is now her most prized possession – a document…
by SHABAN OMAR The burden of being non-citizens keeps on crushing the stateless communities in Kwale as they clamour for citizenship. In Kwale, most stateless people are found in Vanga, Shimoni, Gazi, Mangwei, among other areas of Msambweni and Lunga…
By Tshegofatso Mothapo, Statelessness and Citizenship Review, 2(2), 331–337. This case note discusses Kennedy Gihana v Republic of Rwanda, Application No 017/2015 (‘Kennedy’). The case addressed whether the invalidation of the appellants’ passports was an arbitrary deprivation of nationality, rendering…