Citizenship in South Sudan is governed by the Transitional Constitution of 2011, the Nationality Act 2011 and the Nationality Regulations 2011, all adopted following the country’s secession from Sudan the same year to become an independent country. The legislation grants nationality automatically to a wide range of people born before or after the secession of South Sudan on the basis that any parent, grandparent or great-grandparent was born in South Sudan, or that the person is a member of an “indigenous ethnic community” of South Sudan. In addition, a person is considered South Sudanese by birth if, on the date of secession of South Sudan, he or she, or his or her parents or grandparents had been domiciled in South Sudan since 1956 (the date of independence of Sudan).
However, the broad application of the law has the potential to damage the rights of certain persons when read in conjunction with the new legislation in Sudan which prohibits dual nationality with South Sudan, making it possible for the government of Sudan to argue that persons of South Sudanese ancestry remaining in the north have lost their previously held Sudanese nationality. In 2012, the governments of Sudan and South Sudan negotiated a Framework Agreement offering reciprocal rights to the citizens of one in the other. It is unclear, however, to what extent the agreement will be implemented. The capacity of South Sudan to offer documentation and consular support to its presumed citizens in Sudan is limited.
By Gift Friday Noah in Juba In 2016, deadly conflict reached Wau town, north-western South Sudan, where 49-year-old pharmacist Michael Angelo Ufo and his family had called home for years, forcing them to flee to White Nile State in Sudan […]
By Jedi Ramalapa There is a quiet kind of violence that states are particularly good at. It does not arrive with spectacle. It comes through paperwork. Through silence. Through the slow, bureaucratic unmaking of a life. In 2018, that violence […]
Seven leading organisations fighting to end statelessness and advancing gender equal nationality rights globally and in Africa expressed serious concern today about the case of Ms. Animu A. Risasi, a former South Sudanese Member of Parliament who was arbitrarily stripped […]
A former South Sudanese lawmaker has called on the government to restore her nationality documents, months after the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights ruled that she was arbitrarily deprived of her South Sudanese citizenship and ordered the state […]
The demand emerged during constitution-making dialogues that engaged more than 1,200 individuals and community groups across the state, according to the head of the consultation team, Simon Gatluak. JUBA – Citizens in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State have called for […]
Banjul, 29 August 2025 – The Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA) welcomes an important decision of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) in Communication 801/2021: Afekuru Animu Risasi Amitai (Represented by the Institute […]
By Dulcie Leimbach South Sudan, Africa’s youngest country, is heading into the lean growing season, when hunger can peak. It is also embroiled in a nasty power brawl between its president and the vice president as fighting in the northeast […]
Implementation of the Global Action Plan to End Statelessness Extracts relevant to Africa Action 1: Resolve existing major situations of statelessness In December, in Mali, with UNHCR’s support, a workshop organized by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, focused […]
Juba/Yei – The United Nations Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr Raouf Mazou, and the EU Ambassador, Mr Timo Olkkonen, were in Yei yesterday to take part in a ceremony during which hundreds of South Sudanese received National Identity Cards […]
GENEVA – The Republic of South Sudan has taken a major step towards eradicating statelessness in the country by acceding yesterday to two key treaties – the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention […]
Interior Minister Angelina Teny said Monday that South Sudan has a huge number of people at risk of being rendered stateless because of the influx of refugees, returnees and the internally displaced persons. Addressing reporters at the Juba International Airport […]
South Sudanese authorities have suspended the issuance of nationality certificates and passports due to a significant system breakdown. The suspension comes amid mounting frustration from citizens who have faced delays and disruptions in obtaining essential travel and identification documents. The […]