UNHCR, APRIL 2023 REFUGEES FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION compliance with human rights standards. There is a need to take particular care that statelessness is not created for those who cannot show that they belong to the required ethnic community or national origin, and have no connection enabling them to claim nationality successfully in any other state. 67 Legal provisions of this type may also create risks of statelessness for those perceived to have that ethnicity or origin, who as a result are denied recognition of nationality by another state where they have as a matter of fact much stronger connections, on the grounds that they should seek recognition of nationality from the state “of origin“. The laws of all three countries include provisions for adopted children to acquire nationality. In principle, this provides an important protection for children displaced by conflict and separated from their birth parents. However, full legal adoptions are rare, meaning that this protection is of limited real-world significance. In the case of Uganda, moreover, the procedures require a delay until 16 when the child can take an oath of allegiance, and the acquisition of citizenship by registration or naturalisation means that the child would not transmit citizenship to his or her own child. 68 In Rwanda, there is in addition provision for a “simple adoption” which is either with the consent of the parents, or, if the parents cannot consent (because they are missing or dead), consent may be given by others given authority by the law. 69 Simple adoption does not break the link with the birth family, but allows for children looked after by adults who are not their biological parents to have that relationship officially recognised. This could be important also in case of repatriation or resettlement; but simple adoption does not provide rights to acquire Rwandan nationality. The other countries do not have such a procedure. DRC and Rwanda both have provisions that in principle allow a person born in the territory to acquire nationality at majority on application, if he or she is permanently resident, subject to other conditions. 70 This could be an important right for the children of long-term refugees, if the procedure were made accessible. In practice, however, this procedure is not accessible in DRC. It is not yet clear how easily this procedure may be accessed under the 2021 Rwandan nationality code , but similar provisions under the previous code were not accessed by refugees. Uganda, however, establishes no general rights based on birth in Uganda for those who are not members of one of the indigenous communities listed in the constitution, creating significant risks of statelessness. Whatever the underlying legal regime, two essential protections against statelessness for children are the presumption of nationality for foundlings (children found in the territory of unknown parents and place of birth), and the attribution of nationality to a child born in the territory not granted nationality at birth by any other state (because their parents are stateless, of unknown nationality, or cannot transmit nationality to a child). In DRC a newborn child found in the territory of unknown parents is presumed to be Congolese, unless a foreign nationality is established before the child becomes an adult. A child born in DRC of parents “with the status of stateless person”71 is Congolese, as are those who cannot acquire nationality of their parents 67 Background Note on Discrimination in Nationality Laws and Statelessness, UNHCR, 20 October 2021, https://www.refworld.org/docid/616fda104.html. 68 Citizenship and Immigration Control Act 1999, secs. 13 and 15. 69 Law nº32/2016 of 28/08/2016 governing Persons and Family, as amended 2020, Chapter IV, Adoption, arts. 289291. 70 DRC Nationality Code, art. 21; Rwanda Law No. 002/2021, art.9. 71 There is no process to grant the “status of stateless person” in Congolese law. However, the definition section of the Nationality Code (art. 5) defines “apatride” in accordance with the definition in the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (“a person who is not considered as a national by any other state u nder the operation of its law”). 19