Zimbabwe Senate Motion: Adoption of a Draft Protocol to the ACHPR on the Right to Nationality and the Eradication of Statelessness in Africa

Published: 10/May/2017
Source: Parliament of Zimbabwe

HON. SEN. TIMVEOS: I move the motion standing in my name:

That this House;

RECALLING ongoing efforts of the African Union to move towards the adoption of a Draft “Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Right to Nationality and the Eradication of Stateless in Africa”;

TAKING NOTE of the conclusions and Recommendations on statelessness adopted by the SADC “Technical Migration Dialogue for Southern Africa Addressing Mixed Migration in Southern Africa: Linking Protection, Immigration, Border Management and Labour Migration, Gaborone, Botswana from 16-18 August 2016”;

ACKNOWLEDGING the Conclusions of the “Conference on Ensuring Everyone’s Right to Nationality: The Role of Parliaments in Preventing and Ending Statelessness, co-organised by the Parliament of South Africa, the inter Parliamentary Union and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, from 26 to 27 November 2015”;

RECOGNISING the requirement by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) endorsed by the UN General Assembly on 25 September 2015, in particular SDG target 16,9 to provide by 2030 legal identity for all, including birth registration;

FURTHER RECOGNISING the numerous formal pledges of SADC Member States to accede to the 1954 UN Convection relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and the Recommendations from the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review to the same effect;

COGNISANT that the Zimbabwe National Constitution provides for Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms incorporating the right of children to a name and provision of identity documents;

NOW THEREFORE calls upon the Government to:

i)resolve any existing situations of statelessness within our own country; ii)review the legislative frameworks and administrative practices in nationality matters with a view to ensure their consistency with the Zimbabwe Constitution and International standards on the prevention and resolution of statelessness, as well as on protection of stateless persons;

iii)initiate legislative reforms which address any identified gaps or challenges, including any discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion or gender, thereby helping to prevent statelessness;

iv)ensure gender equality as regards the equal right of men and women to pass on their nationality to their children and spouses and to change or retain their nationality;

v)expedite the implementation of Article 6(4) of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, thereby preventing childhood statelessness;

vi)establish and maintain comprehensive birth registration and civil registration systems within Zimbabwe with a view to prevent statelessness;

vii)accede to the 1954 UN Convention relating to the status of Stateless Persons, the 1961 UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and the 1990 UN Convention on the rights of all migrant workers and members of their families;

(vii)support the drafting, adoption and ratification of a Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Right to Nationality and the Eradication of Statelessness in Africa.

Download transcript of debate: Senate hansard 10 may 2017 vol 26 no 53 parlzim.gov.zw

Themes: Acquisition of nationality, Acquisition by children, African standards, Dual Nationality, Naturalisation and Marriage, Statelessness
Regions: Zimbabwe
Year: 2017