Statelessness and Citizenship in the East African Community
A Study by Bronwen Manby for UNHCR
September 2018
Commissioned by
UNHCR Regional Service Centre, Nairobi, Kenya
[email protected]
STATELESSNESS AND CITIZENSHIP IN THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY
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STATELESSNESS AND CITIZENSHIP IN THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY
Table of Contents
List of Tables...............................................................................................................................i List of Boxes................................................................................................................................i Methodology and acknowledgements...................................................................................... ii
A note on terminology: “nationality”, “citizenship” and “stateless person”........................... iii
Key findings and recommendations .......................................................................1 1. Summary...........................................................................................................3
Overview of the report..............................................................................................................4 Key recommendations ..............................................................................................................5 Steps already taken ...................................................................................................................6 The role of the EAC....................................................................................................................6
2. Nationality under colonial rule and the transition to independence .................7 3. Nationality laws of EAC Partner States today ....................................................9
The right to a nationality...........................................................................................................9 Nationality based on birth in the territory................................................................................9
Children of stateless parents or who would otherwise be stateless .......................................................... 10 Foundlings or children of unknown parents............................................................................................... 11
Nationality based on descent..................................................................................................12 Adopted children.....................................................................................................................13 Nationality based on marriage................................................................................................14 Dual nationality .......................................................................................................................14 Naturalisation based on long-term residence.........................................................................16
Naturalisation of refugees ......................................................................................................................... 17 Special temporary procedures for naturalisation in Kenya........................................................................ 19
Loss and deprivation of nationality.........................................................................................20 Renunciation and reacquisition ..............................................................................................21 Procedures...............................................................................................................................22 Identification and protection of stateless persons .................................................................23
4. Nationality administration in practice .............................................................25
Birth registration .....................................................................................................................25 National identity cards ............................................................................................................28 Proof of nationality..................................................................................................................33 The right to a passport ............................................................................................................34 Access to naturalisation ..........................................................................................................35
5. Groups at risk of statelessness ........................................................................38
Descendants of pre-independence migrants ............................................................................................. 38 Border populations .................................................................................................................................... 38 Vulnerable children.................................................................................................................................... 39 Refugees, former refugees and internally displaced persons .................................................................... 41 Long term migrants and their children ...................................................................................................... 42
UNHCR / September 2018 STATELESSNESS AND CITIZENSHIP IN THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY
Stranded migrants in transit ...................................................................................................................... 43 Deportees from countries outside the region ............................................................................................ 43 Arbitrary deprivation ................................................................................................................................. 44
Burundi....................................................................................................................................45
Kenya.......................................................................................................................................47
Descendants of pre-independence Mozambican migrants in Kwale County ............................................. 48 Pemba and Comorian migrants from Zanzibar.......................................................................................... 49 Descendants of Zimbabwean missionaries ................................................................................................ 49 Rwandans, Burundians and others ............................................................................................................ 50 South Asians: Children of British Overseas Citizens and others ................................................................. 50 Somali Kenyans and Somali refugees ........................................................................................................ 53 Descendants of Nubians settled in Kenya before independence ............................................................... 55
Rwanda....................................................................................................................................55
Congolese refugees.................................................................................................................................... 57
South Sudan.............................................................................................................................58
Northerners and cross-border ethnic groups............................................................................................. 59 Ngok Dinka of Abyei................................................................................................................................... 59 Mbororo (Falata) pastoralists.................................................................................................................... 59 IDPs in South Sudan ................................................................................................................................... 60
Comorians in Zanzibar ............................................................................................................................... 63 Makonde in Zanzibar ................................................................................................................................. 64 Long-term migrants and refugees, and their children ............................................................................... 65
Children of Ugandan Asian “returnees”..................................................................................................... 68 The Maragoli community in Kiryandongo.................................................................................................. 69 Somalis from Somaliland and Somalia....................................................................................................... 70 Long-term refugees: Rwandans, Congolese, Sudanese ............................................................................. 70
6. International law on nationality and statelessness..........................................72
International standards...........................................................................................................72 African standards ....................................................................................................................73 The jurisprudence of the African human rights bodies ..........................................................74
7. The East African Community legal and policy framework................................76
8. Conclusions .....................................................................................................79
Extent of statelessness and profiles of those at risk...............................................................79 The impact of statelessness ....................................................................................................79 Legal frameworks ....................................................................................................................80 The status of pastoralists ........................................................................................................82 Statelessness and lack of identity documents ........................................................................82 The importance of due process and transparency .................................................................84 Efforts to reduce statelessness ...............................................................................................85 Regional cooperation mechanisms .........................................................................................85
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STATELESSNESS AND CITIZENSHIP IN THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY
9. Recommendations ..........................................................................................87
Regional institutional support for inter-state cooperation and common norms...................87 Law reform ..............................................................................................................................87 Nationality administration ......................................................................................................88 Identification of populations at risk of statelessness, and prevention and reduction of statelessness............................................................................................................................89 An integrated approach to nationality systems......................................................................89 Accessions to and implementation of UN and AU treaties.....................................................89 Recommendations to individual countries .............................................................................89
Burundi....................................................................................................................................................... 90 Kenya ......................................................................................................................................................... 90 Rwanda...................................................................................................................................................... 90 South Sudan............................................................................................................................................... 90 Tanzania..................................................................................................................................................... 91 Uganda ...................................................................................................................................................... 91
The role of international partners...........................................................................................92
Appendix I: Nationality laws in force....................................................................93 Appendix II: Status of UN treaties ........................................................................94
Treaties relating to statelessness............................................................................................94 Treaties providing for the right to a nationality......................................................................94
Appendix III: Status of AU treaties........................................................................95
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List of Tables
Table 1: Right to nationality based on birth in the territory...................................................11 Table 2: Right to nationality based on descent.......................................................................13 Table 3: Right to transmit nationality to a spouse..................................................................14 Table 4: Countries permitting and prohibiting dual nationality for adults.............................15 Table 5: Right to acquire nationality by naturalisation...........................................................18 Table 6: Conditions for loss or deprivation of nationality.......................................................21 Table 7: Renunciation and reacquisition.................................................................................22
List of Boxes
Gaps in nationality laws contributing to statelessness .........................................................24 Identity vetting in Kenya........................................................................................................32 Weaknesses in nationality administration ............................................................................37 Stateless child born in Tanzania.............................................................................................40 A taxonomy of statelessness .................................................................................................45 Kenyan Asians at risk of statelessness...................................................................................52 Stories from Operation Kimbunga.........................................................................................62 Naturalisation of refugees in Tanzania..................................................................................66 When is lack of identity documentation evidence of statelessness?....................................83
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STATELESSNESS AND CITIZENSHIP IN THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY
Methodology and acknowledgements
This report was written on the basis of desk and field research conducted from May-August 2016 in the six Partner States of the East African Community (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda), and has been updated to June 2018. The author visited Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda, and conducted interviews with state officials, relevant staff of UNHCR and other international agencies, national civil society groups, and institutions and organisations (such as children’s homes and legal aid clinics) likely to have encountered individuals affected by these problems, as well as representatives of affected communities introduced by these key informants.
