The refugee condition is one that is intended to be temporary. Refugees flee when their primary, that is national, protection has failed and are accorded international protection through the grant of refugee status. This protection is intended to be replaced by a new national protection through integration in the country of refuge (through the grant of permanent residence leading to naturalisation), repatriation (which involves re-asserting effective citizenship in the home country), or resettlement (with naturalisation or permanent residence being offered in a third country). Too often, however, refugee situations in Africa become protracted, leaving refugees (and their children) in limbo for years or decades.
Refugees who are unable to return are often unable to access local integration in their country of refuge, in part due to onerous requirements for naturalisation. In addition to the general obstacles to naturalisation, refugees may face difficulties in accessing naturalisation procedures because of lack of knowledge or funds needed for the processing of applications, etc. In other cases, refugees may face political or cultural obstacles to naturalisation. Few countries in Africa have provided for naturalisation of long-term refugee populations, but one notable example is Tanzania’s grant of nationality to long-term refugees from Rwanda and Burundi.
Refugees may also face difficulties in reacquiring nationality or obtaining confirmation of nationality on returning home when it is possible to do so. For example, at least several hundred Liberian refugees (and their children) registered with UNHCR in West Africa were refused confirmation of Liberian citizenship when the Liberian refugee crisis was declared over in 2012.
The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has condemned disinformation about the Constitutional Court’s 7 July 2026 judgment in the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town matter, which concerns the processing of asylum applications. “Despite it being public knowledge that this case […]
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, commends the Government of the Republic of Botswana for granting citizenship to 69 refugees on the commemoration of this year’s World Refugee Day and the 75th anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention in Dukwi Refugee […]
Refugees and stateless people face a long road to getting documentation By Marecia Damons Lumumba Chia has lived in South Africa for more than two decades. He holds a Refugee Permit, has filed the necessary applications, and has done everything […]
In this fourth part of the Project Profile investigation into the use of biometrics in the humanitarian sector in Kenya, Naipanoi Lepapa looks at how the UNHCR’s sharing of biometric data with the Kenyan government led to the violation of […]
The Constitutional Court of Zambia has issued a unanimous landmark judgment striking down a key provision that prevented refugees from accessing citizenship. In doing so, it opens the door to nationality and associated rights including education, healthcare and employment for […]
Zambia’s Constitutional Court of Zambia has ruled that children born in the country to refugee parents are eligible for citizenship, in a landmark decision on nationality rights. The ruling follows a petition filed by the Zambian Civil Liberties Union (ZCLU), […]
2025/CCZ/003 […] the Petitioner seeks the following relief and remedies: i. Interpretation of Articles 37, 42 (b) and 266 of the Constitution of Zambia as read together with Sections 20 (1) (c) and 49 of the Refugees Act No 1 […]
GARISSA, Kenya , Apr 8 2026 (IPS) – In 2006, Amina Saida was only two years old when her parents moved to the Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya, near the border with Somalia. The Dadaab refugee complex was established […]
By Patrice Okou AKA In the Tillabéri region of south-west Niger, thousands of displaced children grow up without birth certificates. A lack of information, coupled with the closure of some registration centres, and the remoteness of civil registry offices, mean […]
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 Dotto Lameck DAR ES SALAAM: THE Tanzanian government has reiterated its position that it will not grant citizenship to refugees living in camps within the country, urging them instead to prepare to return to Burundi, where peace and stability […]
Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of Chad CEDAW/C/TCD/CO/5 Extracts: Nationality 31. The Committee notes that the 2023 Constitution of Chad recognizes the equal right of women and men to confer their nationality to their children. However, it notes […]