3 4 In most African states, nationality laws are based on the concepts of jus soli (‘right of soil’) and jus sanguinis (‘right of blood’). Under the former, a person can obtain citizenship if they are born in the country, while the latter bases a person’s nationality on the origin of their parents. One of the most common causes of statelessness in Africa is lack of birth registration and while birth registration does not necessarily confer citizenship, it is the first official acknowledgement of a child’s existence by a state. It is estimated that only 45% of children under the age of five are registered in Africa and the rate of birth registration in South Africa is comparatively higher in the region at 89%. However, there are certain rules and policies that are an obstacle to universal birth registration. In 2019, LHR represented ABBA Specialist Adoption Services to obtain birth certificates for 33 abandoned babies who had been waiting for registration for 18 months. The Department of Home Affairs said this backlog was because its policy only allowed two babies to be registered by the social workers each month. The birth certificates were not only crucial to the adoption process, but also to prevent the babies from becoming stateless.5 Where birth registration cannot take place LHR client “Daniella” was born in Cape Town and was stateless for the first 8 years of her life. Her parents assumed she would automatically be Cuban because they are Cuban. However, her parents were deemed “permanent emigrants” as a result of not returning to Cuba for an extended period and the Cuban embassy refused to recognise Daniella as a citizen. Since 1994, the South African Citizenship Act has made provision for stateless children to obtain citizenship in South Africa but the Department of Home Affairs is required to draft regulations to guide this process. LHR obtained a court order in 2016 declaring “Daniella” a citizen of South Africa and ordering the Department of Home Affairs to publish the regulations that permit children like “Daniella” to access citizenship in South Africa, but to date there are still no regulations.