Africa’s new treaty on statelessness and the right to a nationality: How to make it work?
Published: 12/Mar/2026
Source: GLOBALCIT
In February 2024, the African Union adopted “The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on Specific Aspects of the Right to a Nationality and the Eradication of Statelessness in Africa”, marking a major continental milestone in efforts to end statelessness.
This seminar examined the adoption, content, and prospects for implementation of Africa’s new treaty on statelessness and nationality. Among the issues addressed by the protocol were the commitment to ensuring everyone’s right to nationality, preventing arbitrary deprivation of citizenship, eradicating statelessness, and resolving nationality issues affecting nomadic and cross-border populations. The protocol established a legal framework for states to address these challenges.
Two years after the adoption of the protocol, this webinar explored how it could be effectively implemented. Speakers outlined the history of its adoption, including the pre-existing jurisprudence of African human rights institutions and the debates within the political bodies of the African Union.
The discussion also examined the protocol’s content in a comparative context, including its contribution to international law and its future prospects for ratification and implementation.
Watch webinar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIa5paFh-1o&t=5s