STATELESSNESS AND CITIZENSHIP IN THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY
Tanzania in violation of human rights standards in retroactively denying nationality in violation of due
process.167
Burundi, Rwanda and South Sudan have all withheld or revoked passports from citizens in the last few years
for apparently political reasons, though without necessarily withdrawing recognition of citizenship.168
A taxonomy of statelessness
Migrants
Historical migrants from before independence, and their descendants
Contemporary migrants stranded in another country, especially when undocumented
“Returnees” to a country of origin or deported from another country
Long-term refugees and former refugees, and their descendants
Cross border populations
Ethnic groups divided by international borders
Nomads
Those who live in zones where borders are contested or have been changed
Vulnerable children
Children born out of wedlock
Abandoned babies and orphans
Children separated from their parents
Children of undocumented migrants
Trafficked children
Burundi
Although nationality law in Burundi, as established by the nationality code of 2000 and the constitution of
2005, contains no explicit ethnic element, it provides an exclusively descent-based system, with the
exception only of children of unknown parents. In the absence of a framework to govern the succession of
states at independence, and the continuing existence of a Burundian monarchy, there were no rules on who
became Burundian on 1 July 1962. This omission leaves those who are descendants of migrants to the
country—potentially dating back generations—at risk of statelessness.
The first Burundian nationality code was only adopted in 1971, nine years after independence. It drew heavily
on the Belgian descent-based model and discriminated on the basis of the sex of the parent: attribution of
nationality at birth depended on being the child of a father with the “status of a Murundi” (“ayant la qualité
de Murundi”). There were exceptions in favour of children of unknown parents, and of a person born in
Burundi and domiciled there for at least 15 years, unless it was established that the person was the national
educated in Tanzania), Anatoli Amani (the leader of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party in the north-western Kagera
region), and Mouldine Castico (a former publicity secretary of the CCM in Zanzibar).
167
Anudo Ochieng Anudo v. United Republic of Tanzania, App. No. 012/2015, African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights,
Judgment of 22 March 2018. See further below under heading on the jurisprudence of the African human rights bodies.
168
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2013, 2014 and 2015, U.S.
Department of State.
UNHCR / September 2018
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