According to United Nations Human Rights for Refugees
(UNHCR) estimates, statelessness affected up to 10 million people worldwide
leaving them with no identity. Statelessness refers to the condition whereby an
individual is not considered as a national by any State under the operations of
its law and is, therefore, not entitled to any right or privileges enjoyed by
the nationals.
Statistics indicates that about one million people living in
West Africa are Stateless. This was disclosed by Madam Emmanuelle Mitte, Senior
Regional Protection Officer, UNHCR Country Representation in Senegal. She said about 60 percent of stateless people
were children because the States in which they were born did not register them
as their parents were not recognized as citizens by the laws of those States. According
to her, statelessness in West Africa occurred for a variety of reasons,
including discrimination against specific groups in a country, discrepancies in
nationality laws and administrative practices obstructing access to
documentation. “Others include the failure to include all residents in the body
of citizens when a state becomes independent, or when a part of a territory is
annexed to a new state,” she added.
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