REFUGEES FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION UNHCR, APRIL 2023 The Children Act as amended in 2016 provides for every child to have the right to a nationality. 303 The Refugee Act specifically provides that children are entitled to the rights contained in the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. 304 The provisions of the ACRWC and the CRC in relation to the right to nationality are thus applicable. Marriage Either spouse shall be registered as a citizen on application, after five years of legal marriage.305 Registration of marriages is governed by the Marriage Act. 306 Dual citizenship Dual citizenship has been permitted for Ugandan citizens since constitutional amendments in 2005, but only with the permission of the authorities and subject to quite complex conditions established by amendments to the law in 2009.307 A person acquiring citizenship who wishes to retain another citizenship must, among other things, satisfy the Citizenship and Immigration Board that he or she is not a refugee.308 Registration and naturalisation Ugandan law establishes two different procedures for acquisition of citizenship based on long -term residence: registration and naturalisation. The constitution sets out the rules for registration, the easier procedure, and delegates the rules on naturalisation to the law. 309 The constitution provides that those eligible to be registered as a citizen, in addition to spouses, are: (i) those born in Uganda and resident since 1962, provided the parents were neither refugees nor diplomats; (ii) those who have “legally and voluntarily migrated to Uganda” and who have been living in Uganda for at least 10 years (or “such other period prescribed by Parliament”: between 1999 and 2009 the law provided for 20 years, the period was then reduced again to 10 years); and (iii) “every person who, on the commencement of this Constitution, has lived in Uganda for at least twenty years”.310 In addition, the constitution provides that Parliament shall provide for the acquisition and loss of citizenship by naturalisation.311 The condition that migration be “voluntary” excludes refugees from acquisition of citizenship by registration. The Refugee Act specifically provides that “The Constitution and any other law in force in Uganda regulating naturalisation shall apply to the naturalisation of a recognised refugee.” 312 In 2015, the Constitutional Court confirmed that refugees were not eligible for the easier process of registration, though it stated (but for technical reasons did not give a formal declaration) that it considered they were eligible for naturalisation. 313 Since this judgment, application forms for naturalisation have been made available, whereas previously the only formal application forms were for registration. 303 Children Act 1997, section 4 as substituted by the Children (Amendment) Act, 9 of 2016. 304 Refugee Act 2006, section 32(2). 305 Uganda Constitution 1995, Article 12. 306 Chapter 251 of the Laws of Uganda. See also information from the Uganda Registration Servi ces Bureau https://ursb.go.ug/civil-registration. 307 Citizenship and Immigration Control Act 1999, amended 2009, Section 15, 16, 19 & 19A-G. 308 Citizenship and Immigration Control Act 1999, amended 2009, Section 19 B(f). 309 The procedures and barriers to access for refugees are discussed in Walker, ‘From Refugee to Citizen’. 310 Uganda Constitution 1995, Article 12. 311 Uganda Constitution 1995, Article 13. 312 Refugee Act, 2006, Article 45. 313 Centre for Public Interest Law Ltd and Salima Namusobya v. Attorney General, Constitutional Petition No. 34 of 2010, Judgement of 6 October 2015. The Constitutional Court is mandated to interpret the Constitution, and thus stated that it did not have the mandate to interpret the act where the naturalisation provisions are included. 78