Categories for Uncategorized

UNHCR’s open letter to end statelessness

Published: 5/Nov/2014
Source: UNHCR

Across the world today more than ten million people are told they don’t belong ANYWHERE.They are called ‘stateless’. They are denied a nationality. And with it, they are denied their basic rights. Statelessness can mean a life without education, without […]

Zimbabweans applying for extended special visas

Published: 5/Nov/2014
Source: The Citizen

More than 195,000 Zimbabweans have in recent weeks applied to remain in South Africa under the new Zimbabwe Special Permits dispensation, the home affairs department said Tuesday. Almost another 50,000 were expected to do so by months’ end. “In October, […]

CEDAW: General recommendation No. 32 on the gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women

Published: 5/Nov/2014
Source: UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

“Through the present general recommendation, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women aims to provide authoritative guidance to States parties on legislative, policy and other appropriate measures to ensure the implementation of their obligations under the Convention on […]

Dual citizenship retained

Published: 3/Nov/2014
Source: Daily Mail

The Dual Citizenship clause has been retained in the final draft constitution. Article 18 of part four (4) of the final draft constitution states: “A citizen shall not lose citizenship by acquiring the citizenship of another country.” And the clause […]

Egyptian nationality stripped from 800, including Palestinians

Published: 29/Oct/2014
Source: Egyptian Independent

A commission formed by the Cabinet to review pardons and citizenships granted by former president Mohamed Morsy to foreigners has revoked the citizenship of 800 people, including Palestinians, who obtained it illegally, according to security sources. Those include Hamas senior […]

Niger’s Parliament passes law authorizing dual citizenship

Published: 29/Oct/2014
Source: The Vanguard

The Nigerien Parliament on Wednesday passed a law authorising dual citizenship for all its citizens. A parliamentary source said in Niamey that the law was unanimously passed by members of the parliament. He said the law allowed Nigerien-born citizens to […]

Egypt: naturalization of 800 cancelled, most of them Palestinians

Published: 28/Oct/2014
Source: Al Masry Al Youm (Cairo)

[translation via Google translate] Security sources revealed that the committee set up by the Council of Ministers to review all the decisions issued by the ousted president, Mohamed Morsi, to pardon prisoners and grant citizenship to foreigners, has completed its […]

Niger: Le Parlement adopte la loi autorisant la double nationalité

Published: 28/Oct/2014
Source: China News

Le Parlement nigérien a adopté lundi le nouveau code de la nationalité nigérienne autorisant la double nationalité à tous ses citoyens. Cette loi, votée à l’unanimité par les députés nationaux, permet à tout Nigérien d’origine d’acquérir une autre nationalité, sans […]

Namibia: Bogus husbands cause misery

Published: 24/Oct/2014
Source: New Era (Windhoek)

The Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration receives at least two requests on a weekly basis in which Namibian women married to foreigners request the ministry to help them trace the whereabouts of their ‘husbands’. Speaking in an interview with […]

Stripping Egyptians of citizenship: a new punishment?

Published: 23/Oct/2014
Source: Al Arabiya

By Sonia Farid | Special to Al Arabiya News Based on available information, Hisham Mohammad Ahmed al-Tayeb is the first Egyptian to be stripped of his citizenship. According to a cabinet decree issued on Oct. 15, the decision was taken […]

The Ghanacard gamble; A case of chasing the wind

Published: 21/Oct/2014
Source: Daily Graphic (Accra)

One way to think about the now controversial National Identity Card project is to ask what would happen if we can’t find the US$115 million that the National Identification Authority (NIA) is seeking, to enable it to build a robust […]

Refugee status, arbitrary deprivation of nationality and statelessness within the context of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol relating to the status of refugees

Published: 20/Oct/2014
Source: UNHCR

The question of whether arbitrary deprivation of nationality constitutes persecution for the purposes of a determination of refugee status has received increased attention in recent jurisprudence,however, no systematic argument has been made to date on the ordinary meaning of words, […]