Citizenship in The Gambia is governed by the relevant sections of the 1997 Constitution, which provides for citizenship to be granted on the basis of descent (arts 9 and 10). A provision to establish a presumption of citizenship in case of an abandoned child found in The Gambia was removed by a 2001 constitutional amendment. Citizenship is transmitted for only one generation if born outside The Gambia.
The constitution provides that a person married to a Gambian citizen (whether husband or wife) may apply for citizenship after seven years residence; as may a person ordinarily resident for not less than fifteen years if they satisfy the conditions set out in art.12(2). Only a person who has naturalised or registered as a citizen may be deprived of citizenship, and the Secretary of State (responsable government minister) must apply to the High Court for a deprivation order (art.13).
The Gambia Nationality and Citizenship Act of 1965 provides further detail on acquisition by registration or naturalisation, and on deprivation of citizenship. It remains in force in so far as its provisions are not contradicted by the constitution.
The independence constitution of 1965 and the 1970 constitution which replaced it both provided for citizenship to be granted based on birth in The Gambia; and for transmission to those born outside the country to be only from the father. The 1997 constitution removed gender discrimination in transmission to children or spouses, but also removed rights based on birth in The Gambia. However, existing citizens retained their status.
In 2015, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child welcomed some progress in birth registration, but expressed concern at the “huge number of children who are not immediately registered at birth”. In 2014, The Gambia acceded to the two international statelessness conventions, and in 2015, adopted an action plan against statelessness, including promises to improve birth registration and identification systems, and adopt a procedure to facilitate naturalisation of stateless persons.
By Ali Jaw The Nation Human Rights Commission has called on government of The Gambia to make costs of the national identity cards and passports more affordable for average Gambians. This call by the rights commission came years after an […]
Including information on Benin, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Senegal, Sierra Leone & Togo. Extracts: Gambia Local integration remains the most viable option for Senegalese refugees. During the last verification exercise, the intention survey indicated that103 refugee households are willing to […]
By Yankuba Jallow One Haddy Jallow of Banjul has asked the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to investigate the allegation surrounding the National Assembly member for Banjul South, Fatoumata Njai, regarding her having dual-nationality. Fatoumata Njai is also known as Touma […]
[Culled from Fatou Jaw Manneh Facebook] Africans’ daal. Let me just start with the Gambia. Remember when US President Joe Biden announced he was going to give 11 million immigrants legal status and a path to citizenship? Gambians especially were […]
By: Adama Tine The secretary general and party leader of The Gambia Moral Congress (GMC), Ahmad Mai Fatty prior to the rumours and chaos of voters’ attestation issuance by individuals, has said that there are specific exclusive rights reserved for […]
By: Adama Tine African descendants residing in The Gambia over the weekend held their first ever symposium with members of the National Assembly, human right activists, historians and stakeholders at a local hotel in Senegambia. Hon. Sulayman Saho, the lawmaker […]
By Yankuba Jallow Members of the Council of African Descendants (COAD) have enjoined Lawmakers to come up with an Automatic Citizenship Bill to enable them become citizens of the Gambia. These African descendants whose ancestors were taken away from the […]
By: Adama Tine A group of African descendants residing in The Gambia have urged National Assembly Members (NAMs) to consider their citizenship plea as they are home comers and desire that the National Assembly considers their automatic citizenship plea. It’s […]
By Gaye Sowe and Maria Saine This report is organised as follows. The first part sets out the historical background of the legal framework of the Gambia’s citizenship regime. It looks at both the colonial history and the constitutional history […]
In 2010, Yahya Jammeh made a spectacular pronunciation offering citizenship to all Black African descents in the Diaspora willing to resettle in The Gambia. Hundreds of returnees have since stayed in the Gambia though Jammeh’s pronunciation got never backed legally. […]
Banjul, Gambia(PANA) – The journey to acquiring Gambian citizenship for Black African returnees suffered a setback after parliament rejected the “Promulgation Bill 2020” on the country’s draft constitution late last month. Section 188 of the draft constitution guaranteed the acquisition […]
By Momodou Jarju Over two hundred and thirty-two thousand Biometric Identification Cards have been issued to Gambians since the commencement of the issuance of the document in October 2018, the Minister of Interior, Yankuba Sonko told lawmakers in Banjul on […]