Absence of official data on stateless people in Zimbabwe “problematic” – watchdog pushes for amendment of legislation
Published: 11/Jun/2024
Source: NewZimbabwe.com
By Anna Chibamu
HUMAN rights lobby group Amnesty International says the absence of official data on undocumented people in Zimbabwe is worrisome and problematic and has urged the state to amend legislation.
According to the UNHCR, an estimated 300 000 people in Zimbabwe are undocumented. Amnesty International however says the figure could be higher creating a “statelessness crisis” where hundreds of thousands of people have no legal status and fail to enrol into schools, and sit for public examinations among other challenges.
Giving oral evidence to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, Defence, Security and War Veterans on its report “We Are Like Stray Animals” released in 2021, Amnesty International urged the government to align the Citizenship Act and the Birth and Death Registration Act to the Constitution to accommodate the affected people.
The report details how Zimbabwe’s discriminatory and arbitrary nationality laws have left generations of migrant workers and their families marginalized in the one country they have ever called home.