{"id":42649,"date":"2025-10-02T18:01:48","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T16:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/citizenshiprightsafrica.org\/?p=42649"},"modified":"2025-10-03T18:03:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T16:03:15","slug":"chads-weaponization-of-citizenship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citizenshiprightsafrica.org\/en\/chads-weaponization-of-citizenship\/","title":{"rendered":"Chad\u2019s Weaponization of Citizenship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dangerous Turn Violates Human Rights and Sends Messages to Activists<\/em><\/p>\n

By Lewis Mudge<\/p>\n

On September 17, the\u00a0Chadian<\/a> authorities\u00a0published a decree<\/a> purporting to strip blogger Makaila Nguebla and journalist Charfadine Galmaye Saleh of their nationality. The move marks a chilling escalation in the repression of dissent. By wielding citizenship as a political weapon, the government not only violates international law but crosses a line that threatens the rights of two outspoken critics and the broader foundation of civic life in Chad.<\/p>\n

Both Nguela and Saleh are known critics of the government in Chad. Nguebla is a blogger, human rights activist, and formerly served as the president\u2019s human rights adviser. Saleh is the editor of\u00a0TchadOne<\/a>, an influential online media outlet. Both men are currently in exile for their safety. Making an example of them by trying to strip them of citizenship not only violates their fundamental rights but creates a climate of fear for all local dissenters. Journalists, activists, and ordinary citizens alike are forced to weigh their right to free speech against the existential threat of losing their status, identity, and security as citizens.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Universal Declaration of Human Rights<\/a> sets out that everyone is entitled to a nationality, which should never be revoked arbitrarily or in a manner that leads to statelessness. This legal norm is reinforced in multiple international and regional\u00a0African conventions<\/a> to which Chad is a party. Yet Chad is brazenly purporting to do just this. Citizenship is not simply a passport or a bureaucratic classification. It is a fundamental legal status to which many civil and political rights attach. Without it, individuals lose a key source of protection and are vulnerable to rights violations, such as arbitrary detention, interference with private and family lives, denial of access to their country, and other deprivations.<\/p>\n

This move comes as the rights climate in Chad continues to worsen: opposition leaders face\u00a0long prison sentences<\/a>, civil society<\/span> and journalists are increasingly\u00a0suppressed<\/a>, security forces are accused of\u00a0carrying out violence<\/a> with total impunity, and the president continues to\u00a0solidify power<\/a>. As attempts were taken to strip Nguelba and Galamaye of their citizenship, the National Assembly\u00a0voted<\/a> to remove term limits for the president. Who will dare speak out against this move now?<\/p>\n

What the government hopes to gain in the short term by banishing two critics will cost the country dearly in legitimacy and stability. When citizenship becomes a pawn in the hands of those in power, the rule of law unravels and, with it, the prospects for a more democratic and rights-respecting Chad.<\/p>\n

Read original: https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/news\/2025\/10\/02\/chads-weaponization-of-citizenship<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dangerous Turn Violates Human Rights and Sends Messages to Activists By Lewis Mudge On September 17, the\u00a0Chadian authorities\u00a0published a decree purporting to strip blogger Makaila Nguebla and journalist Charfadine Galmaye Saleh of their nationality. The move marks a chilling escalation in the repression of dissent. By wielding citizenship as a political weapon, the government not […]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","region-chad","type-news-articles","item-year-698","item-theme-loss-and-deprivation-of-nationality"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citizenshiprightsafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citizenshiprightsafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citizenshiprightsafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citizenshiprightsafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citizenshiprightsafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42649"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citizenshiprightsafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42650,"href":"https:\/\/citizenshiprightsafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42649\/revisions\/42650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citizenshiprightsafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citizenshiprightsafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citizenshiprightsafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}