STATELESSNESS AND CITIZENSHIP IN THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY applicant not to be a ”burden” on the country in question, are generally in violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Some countries also place restrictions on the role of dual or naturalised citizens in public life (see the second to last column in Table 5: ). Nationality laws in Burundi and Kenya impose a waiting period of 10 years before naturalised citizens can hold a range of offices. Constitutional prohibitions on naturalised citizens holding the presidency exist in all six countries. In Rwanda, a requirement that at least one parent of the President must also have nationality of origin was removed in 2015 amendments to the constitution; at the same time, requirements for nationality of origin were introduced for the President of the Senate, Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies and President of the Supreme Court. Naturalisation of refugees In the language of UNHCR, there are three “durable solutions” to the situation of individuals who have crossed an international border seeking refuge from persecution or from civil war: voluntary repatriation, local integration in the country of first asylum, or resettlement in a third country. Although voluntary repatriation to their home country has generally been viewed by national and international agencies as the best outcome for refugees, the reality is that for many refugees, repatriation may not be possible because of continued insecurity in their home countries. Resettlement in a third country is only ever going to be possible for a small minority of those affected. The 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees provides that states parties “shall as far as possible facilitate the assimilation and naturalisation of refugees,” by such measures as expediting proceedings and reducing the costs of naturalisation (Article 34). The 1969 OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa does not include a similar provision on naturalisation, though its requirement (Article II.1) that countries of asylum should use their best endeavours to “secure the settlement” of refugees who are unable to return home could be interpreted in the same way. Both conventions require countries of asylum to issue travel documents to refugees. All EAC countries are parties to the African Refugee Convention, and all but South Sudan are parties to the UN Refugee Convention (its accession was imminent at the time of publication). There are many tens of thousands of people living in EAC countries in protracted refugee situations— defined by UNHCR to mean those who have been in their country of asylum for more than five years39— without immediate prospects for implementation of durable solutions. In practice, although there are exceptions, such as Tanzania’s offer to naturalise long-term Burundian refugees (see box pp. 66–67), there is often no possibility of converting refugee status into a more permanent legal status, whether that of permanent residence or nationality. Uganda’s 1995 constitution excludes refugees from the easier process of registration as a citizen otherwise open to those resident in the country since before independence; it also limits applications for non-discretionary citizenship by registration based on ten years’ residence to those who “legally and voluntarily” migrated to Uganda after that date. The constitution delegates the establishment of rules on discretionary naturalisation based on long term residence to legislation.40 The Refugee Act of 2006 states that the normal law applies to the naturalisation of a refugee, a change from the 1960 Control of Alien Refugees Act which had excluded any period spent in Uganda as a refugee from counting as residence for the purposes of naturalisation.41 Nevertheless, some remaining ambiguities have led Ugandan officials to interpret the law to mean that refugees may not naturalise. Indeed in 2011, the forms and procedures in 39 Protracted Refugee Situations, Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme, EC/54/SC/CRP.14, 10 June 2004; Conclusion on Protracted Refugee Situations, No. 109 (LXI) – 2009, UNHCR ExCom Conclusions, 8 December 2009. 40 Uganda Constitution 1995, Article 12(1), 12(2)(b) and 13. 41 Control of Alien Refugees Act 1960, Article 18; Refugee Act, 2006 Article 45. UNHCR / September 2018 17