Citizenship Law in Africa

Bronwen Manby

Description

Few African countries provide for an explicit right to a nationality. Laws and practices governing citizenship effectively leave hundreds of thousands of people in Africa without a country. These stateless Africans can neither vote nor stand for office; they cannot enrol their children in school, travel freely, or own property; they cannot work for the government; they are exposed to human rights abuses. Statelessness exacerbates and underlies tensions in many regions of the continent. Citizenship Law in Africa, a comparative study by two programs of the Open Society Foundations, describes the often arbitrary, discriminatory, and contradictory citizenship laws that exist from state to state and recommends ways that African countries can bring their citizenship laws in line with international rights norms. The report covers topics such as citizenship by descent, citizenship by naturalisation, gender discrimination in citizenship law, dual citizenship, and the right to identity documents and passports. It is essential reading for policymakers, attorneys, and activists. This second edition includes updates on developments in Kenya, Libya, Namibia, South Africa, Sudan and Zimbabwe, as well as minor corrections to the tables and other additions throughout.

Sujets

• Law

Informations

• Publié par: African Minds
• Date de parution: 27 juillet 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9781920489588
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

2ND EDITION CITIZENSHIP LAW IN AFR a pO A n r e fci I coeiS G t o ius rn Jt ve y ce n ano Ice M C and Advocacy Pniittioartiinveg A roject (AfriMAP)

Citizenship Law in Africa A Comparative Study

By Bronwen Manby

Africa Governance Monitoring and Advocacy Project (AfriMAP) Open Society Justice Intitiative

Second edition October 2010, incorporating revisions to the tables and other information relevant to Kenya, Libya, Namibia, South Africa, Sudan and Zimbabwe.

Open Society Foundations 2010

This publication is available as a pdf on the Open Society Foundations website or the AfriMAP website under a Creative Commons licence that allows copying and distributing the publication, only in its entirety, as long as it is attributed to the Open Society Foundations and used for noncommercial educational or public policy purposes. Photographs may not be used separately from the publication.

ISBN (soft cover): 9781936133291 ISBN (Ebrary): 9781920489564 ISBN (MyiLibrary): 9781920489571 ISBN (Adobe PDF digital edition): 9781920489588

Published by Open Society Foundations 400 West 59th Street New York, NY 10019 USA www.soros.org

For more information, contact: AfriMAP P.O. Box 678, Wits 2050 Johannesburg, South Africa www.afrimap.org

Open Society Justice Initiative 400 West 59th Street New York, NY 10019 USA www.justiceinitiative.org

Cover design by Dennis Ahlgrim/Ahlgrim Design Group Text layout and printing by COMPRESS.dsl Cover photo by Kambou Sia/AFP/Getty Images

Distributed by African Minds 4 Eccleston Place, Somerset West, 7130, South Africa [e-mail] www.africanminds.co.za

ORDERS: African Books Collective PO Box 721, Oxford OX1 9EN, UK [e-mail] www.africanbookscollective.com

Contents

Sources and acknowledgments

Disclaimer vii

Abbreviations viii

Definitions

Summary 1 African citizenship law Racial, ethnic, and religious discrimination Gender discrimination Naturalisation

Dual citizenship

Due process: Revocation of citizenship and expulsion of citizens

International norms

Recommendations

International norms on citizenship The right to a nationality State succession and citizenship Discrimination and arbitrary deprivation of citizenship Due process in relation to expulsion

The jurisprudence of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights

Citizenship under colonial rule

The basis of citizenship law today

Right to a nationality

Citizenship by descent

Racial and ethnic discrimination

Gender discrimination Botswana: TheUnity DowCitizenship Case Reforms in North Africa Ethiopia: The constitution and law are gender neutral, but practice is not

iii

v

ix

2 3 5 5 7 8 9 10

18 18 21 23 25 25

28

32

34

39

42

45 48 50 53

C I T I Z E N S H I P L AW I N A F R I C A

Proof of nationality Supreme Court rules on proof of nationality in DRC

Dual citizenship A change of mind on dual citizenship in East Africa

Citizenship by naturalisation

Citizenship requirements for public office Egypt: Dual citizenship and political rights

Rights for the African diaspora Ethiopia Ghana

Loss and deprivation of citizenship

Right to identity documents and passports Egypt recognises the right of adherents of “non-recognised” religions to documentation

Citizenship as a “durable solution” for refugees

Appendix: Legal sources

Index 100

List of tables Table 1: Countries providing a right to a nationality Table 2: Right to citizenship by descent Table 3: Right to pass citizenship to a spouse Table 4: Countries permitting and prohibiting dual citizenship for adults Table 5:enizipshreuiitctludybsaanaonsatiralinatutotaqciRhg or registration/declaration Table 6: Criteria for loss of citizenship

iv

55 56

58 60

64

73 74

76 76 77

78

86

87

88

96

38 40 49 63

68 84

Sources and acknowledgments

This report was written by Bronwen Manby, of the Africa Governance Monitoring and Advocacy Project (AfriMAP) of the Open Society Foundations, based on a comparative analysis of the citizenship laws of 53 countries in Africa. The report is twinned with a book on citizenship in Africa published by Zed Books during 2009 in its “African Arguments” series. The book gathers case studies of the practice of statelessness and citizenship discrimination in Botswana, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mauritania, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and elsewhere. These case studies also inform the analysis in the current report. An almost complete set of African citizenship laws has been collected. These laws are listed in the appendix at the end of the report and, where not previously available, have also been suppled to the UN Refugee Agency for inclusion on their website in the Refworld database of resources. The study also refers to national and regional jurisprudence, and to reports to and the concluding observations of the UN committees responsible for monitoring compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racism, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. In addition, the report relies on information collected as part of an “Africa citizenship audit” initiated by the Open Society Justice Initiative working with the Africa members of the Open Society Foundations. For this audit, national partners surveyed the law and practice in 14 African countries on equality, minority rights, nationality, refugees, and treatment of migrants. A steering committee for the project provided guidance throughout. The country research for the “citizenship audit” was carried out by the following individuals and organisations: Amy Bauer, Basier Bandi, Alice Mogwe and Tim Curry (DITSHWANELO—The Botswana Centre for Human Rights), Botswana; Ibrahima Doumbia, Côte d’Ivoire; Marcel Wetsh’okonda Koso (Campagne pour les Droits de l’Homme au Congo), Democratic Republic of Congo; Wesal Afifi, Abduallah Khalil, Tarek Badawy, and Amal Abdel Hadi (Forced Migration and Refugee Studies Program, American University in Cairo), Egypt; Abebe Haliu, Ethiopia; Rose Ayugi, Kenya; Keiso Matashane- Marite and Libakiso Mathlo (Women and Law in Southern Africa), Lesotho; Moustapha Touré and A.S. Bouhoubeyni, Mauritania; Khadija Elmadmad, Morocco; Ilguilas Weila (Timidria), Niger; Jamesina King (Campaign for Good Governance), Sierra Leone; Karla Saller, South Africa; Sizakele Hlatshwayo

v