STATELESSNESS AND CITIZENSHIP IN THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY leaders to do the identification of migrants without permits left a lot of authority in the hands of local leaders and their interpretation of what gives a person the right to Tanzanian citizenship and/or residence in Tanzania. Generally, it seems that the understanding is based on a combination of descent (parents are known to be Tanzanian) and on the length of stay in a particular area. The security of those who have returned after deportation thus still rests on the relationship they have with a leader in a particular village. In 2016, the East African Court of Justice condemned the failure of the EAC institutions to investigate and provide redress for the illegal expulsion of immigrants, which “if its illegality was confirmed, would constitute a flagrant violation of the objectives and fundamental principles of the community”.258 In a separate case relating to an individual expulsion, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights found that Tanzania had arbitrarily deprived Anudo Ochieng Anudo of his citizenship and also arbitrarily expelled him from the country, leaving him living stateless for several years in no-man’s land at the border as a result. It ordered Tanzania to amend its laws to allow for proper court review of such decisions.259 Tanzania’s semi-federal system, with substantial autonomy for Zanzibar, creates additional factors around the identification of who is a “Zanzibari” (important for rights to vote and own property on the islands) that also impact on access to Tanzanian citizenship. Stories from Operation Kimbunga260 “Anthony”, 30 Anthony is a Burundian refugee in Tanzania who had already been naturalized in 2013. During Operation Kimbunga he was arrested on a street with other people who were believed to be Burundian. They were taken to the central police office in Dar es Salaam and imprisoned there for two days. Afterwards they were taken to the immigration office and the next day they were transported to Burundi. When they reached the border, Burundian officials refused to take them, saying: “these are not our people and we don’t know them”. As they continued refusing to accept them, a Tanzanian immigration officer told them that they can go back to Tanzania, but on their own cost (meaning they needed to pay for a bus fare). Those who had relatives in Burundi (in Anthony’s view, truly Burundians) had to find their relatives to collect money for bus fare to return to Tanzania. Others (Tanzanians) had to call their relatives in Tanzania to ask for money for transport. According to Anthony the situation was very different in Rwanda. There the government accepted the migrants and assisted them by providing temporary settlement options, especially those who have been in Tanzania for many years and could not trace back their family in Rwanda. Nonetheless, the majority decided to go back to Tanzania within a period of 6 months after the closing of the Operation. “Emmanuel”, 28 Emanuel is a former Burundian refugee who had applied for naturalisation but who, at the time of Kimbunga, had not yet obtained his citizenship certificate. During Kimbunga a police officer stopped him and asked him to prove his citizenship. He failed to produce a document and explained that he applied for naturalization and was accepted and is only waiting to receive his certificate. The police officer did not understand him, as he was not aware of the naturalization exercise, and Emmanuel was imprisoned for one week. According to him, after a few days the police officer returned and asked for all those Burundians that were naturalized to 258 East African Law Society v. Secretary General of the EAC, Ref. No. 7 of 2014, Judgment of 22 March 2016, available at: http://eacj.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Referene-No-7-of-2014-Judgment-of-22-March-2016.pdf; see also summary of judgement by International Justice Resources Centre, 9 May 2016, available at: http://www.ijrcenter.org/2016/05/09/east-africancourt-community-must-investigate-tanzanias-expulsion-of-migrants/. 259 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. 260 Interviews conducted by Amelia Kuch, PhD candidate, University of Edinburgh, in Dar es Salaam, Tabora and Urambo, Tanzania, June/July 2016. All the names have been changed. With thanks generally to Amelia for her inputs on this section. 62 UNHCR / September 2018