Africa has one of the largest stateless populations in the world. Across the continent, thousands of people are considered stateless and there are growing calls for international organizations and governments to do something about it. Statelessness is increasingly being recognized as a major problem in Africa. However, it remains poorly documented — partly because the official stateless population significantly overlaps with a much larger population of undocumented people who are unaware of their official nationality status. There is also a common misconception that all refugees are stateless.
In international law, a stateless person is defined as someone who is "not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law." The exact number of stateless people around the world is unknown; however the UNHCR estimates there are approximately 12 million, with over 715,000 in Africa alone — though the actual number is likely to be far higher. A person may find themselves stateless as a result of discrimination based on ethnicity, religion or gender, the transfer of territory between existing states, or conflicting nationality laws.
When you do not exist by law, you are extremely vulnerable to abuse and exploitation," UNHCR Assistant Representative Catherine Hamon Sharpe told DW. "Vulnerable people can be easily manipulated, they can be trafficked…so they suffer a whole lot of human rights violations. Every person should be entitled to a nationality."
The problem is particularly acute in Africa for a number of reasons, including the history of partition and migration as a result of ongoing conflict. Many states currently lack the capacity to properly respond to waves of migration, which contribute to the stateless population. There have also been cases of statelessness being used deliberately as a tool of political persecution and exclusion.
In international law, a stateless person is defined as someone who is "not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law." The exact number of stateless people around the world is unknown; however the UNHCR estimates there are approximately 12 million, with over 715,000 in Africa alone — though the actual number is likely to be far higher. A person may find themselves stateless as a result of discrimination based on ethnicity, religion or gender, the transfer of territory between existing states, or conflicting nationality laws.
When you do not exist by law, you are extremely vulnerable to abuse and exploitation," UNHCR Assistant Representative Catherine Hamon Sharpe told DW. "Vulnerable people can be easily manipulated, they can be trafficked…so they suffer a whole lot of human rights violations. Every person should be entitled to a nationality."
The problem is particularly acute in Africa for a number of reasons, including the history of partition and migration as a result of ongoing conflict. Many states currently lack the capacity to properly respond to waves of migration, which contribute to the stateless population. There have also been cases of statelessness being used deliberately as a tool of political persecution and exclusion.
In most African states, nationality laws are based on the concepts of jus soli, or 'right of soil,' and jus sanguinis, or 'right of blood.' Under the former, the person can obtain citizenship if they are born in that particular country, while the latter bases a person's nationality on the origin of their parents. In many cases, states which primarily base their nationality laws on the principle of jus soli prevent populations who are away from their 'historic' homeland to apply for citizenship of that country, while at the same time being denied nationality of their country of residence due to laws based on jus sanguinis.
"They are in limbo, because they are not protected by the citizenship of their new country and at the same time they are not protected by their country of origin because they are no longer citizens," Cristiano d'Orsi, a research fellow and lecturer in Refugee and Migration Law at the Univerisity of Johannesburg told DW.
Perhaps the best known example of an ongoing stateless crisis in Africa due in part to complicated citizenship laws is in Ivory Coast. The estimated stateless population is currently 700,000. The majority of these people are migrants of Burkinabe descent and were not considered eligible for Ivorian nationality following the country's independence in 1960. A further constitutional amendment in 1972, which prohibited foreigners who had not already registered from becoming citizens, effectively left thousands of families and future generations stateless.
4,500 Shona people; many of whom are first or second generation Zimbabweans whose grandparents trekked to Kenya in the 1960s to establish the Gospel of God Church. But although they were born and raised in this country, thanks to dated citizenship laws they are not recognized as Kenyan nationals, nor do they have any official connection with Zimbabwe. They are, in effect, stateless. Most Shona people living in Kenya would be happy to be recognized as citizens of any country. Without identity cards, they are barred from accessing good jobs, opening a bank account, buying a house and even getting married. Almost everyone here has a story of how they were held back from life-changing opportunities because of their statelessness.
For further background reading on statelessness
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