Citizenship in Zambia is governed by the 1991 Constitution, as amended in 2016. The 2016 amendments repealed and replaced the citizenship provisions, permitting dual citizenship for the first time, providing for a presumption of citizenship in favour of children of unknown parents, and expanding rights to apply for citizenship for those born and resident in Zambia. Gender equality had already been implemented in relation to citizenship by descent — though not marriage — by amendments adopted in 1973.
The legislation providing more detail on acquisition and loss, the Zambia Citizenship Act 1975, was repealed and replaced following the adoption of the 2016 Constitution with a new Citizenship Act adopted in June 2016.
In its most recent concluding observations on Zambia, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child noted that while birth registration in Zambia has improved in recent years, it is unacceptably low.
The issue of citizenship has been raised in national elections. Questioning the citizenship of opponents is a tool which some Zambian politicians have used to try to discredit their opponents, some of which have resulted in arrests. Several cases have been heard by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, including the case concerning the citizenship of former president Kenneth Kaunda.
By Mazuba Muchindu AHMR Volume 8 Number 3 September – December 2022 Abstract The risk of statelessness in protracted refugee situations has not received much attention both in academic literature and policy discussions. Yet evidence suggests that for refugees in […]
By Anette Bayer Forsingdal, Dianne Hubbard and Adrijana Corluka Scope and objectives of the study This report focuses on the nexus between birth registration, citizenship and statelessness in the 16 member states of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). The […]
By Sangita Khadka, Guilherme Larsen, and Risa Arai in UNDP Global Policy Network. Percy Santos, a visually impaired college student in Honduras has acquired a technical degree in computer programming and having a new national ID has been like adding […]
This quarterly newsletter includes highlights on the Global Action Plan to End Statelessness, and news from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kingdom of Eswatini, Kingdom of Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Republic of Congo, South Africa and Zambia. DRC: […]
LUSAKA, (CAJ News) – ZAMBIAN authorities have been urged to consider all legal options possible to regularise the status of refugees, including children born there. Gillian Triggs, United Nations Refugee Agency’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, recommended that the government […]
Article 8: Name and nationality (1) A child has a right, from birth, to a name and nationality and where a child is deprived of that child’s identity, the State shall provide appropriate assistance with a view to establishing that […]
Extracts relevant to Africa: Top events and news • 15 civil society and legal aid organizations established the Eastern Africa Nationality Network. • Three pledges from the 2019 High Level Segment on Statelessness were fully or partially implemented in Georgia, […]
Quarterly statelessness newsletter for Southern Africa. The newsletter features updates from organisations and institutions working towards the eradication of statelessness in the region and highlights key developments, recent trends and emerging concerns. Download in English, French & Portuguese.
Extracts relevant to Africa: Mobilizing governments and civil society On 14 February, in Kenya, the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) in collaboration with Haki Centre Organization, Kwale Human Rights Network and UNHCR, organized a meeting in Kwale County, between Members […]
By Ayang Macdonald Zambia’s parliament has been told that work to put in place a new biometric ID system dubbed the Integrated National Registration Information System (INRIS) has started, with the biometrics of at least 15,000 Zambians already captured for […]
Authors demand intervention to solve challenges in accessing national documents James Kunda Zambians in the diaspora wrote Tuesday to President Hakainde Hichilema asking for help in accessing national documents. Ferdinand Simaanya, the head of the Zambian Diaspora Organization, said the […]
Extracts relevant to Africa: Mobilizing governments and civil society On 20 August, in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, UNHCR and the International Conference for the Great Lakes Region convened a workshop to take stock of progress on the […]