STATELESSNESS AND CITIZENSHIP IN THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY approved a study on nationality prepared in accordance with this resolution314 and decided to draft a protocol to the Charter on the right to a nationality for adoption by heads of state.315 In July 2015, in accordance with its resolutions of the previous two years, and following expert meetings to draft the text, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights adopted the text of a draft Protocol on the Specific Aspects of the Right to Nationality and the Eradication of Statelessness in Africa, for consideration by the other institutions of the African Union. The proposal for a protocol was accepted by the Executive Council of the African Union during the July 2016 AU summit in Kigali, Rwanda.316 The jurisprudence of the African human rights bodies Several cases have been brought to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights on behalf of politically active individuals whom governments have attempted (often successfully) to silence by denationalisation or deportation or by otherwise violating their rights on grounds of alleged nationality or immigration status. Perhaps most importantly the African Commission has found that the provision of Article 5 that states “Every individual shall have the right to the respect of the dignity inherent in a human being and to the recognition of his legal status” applies specifically to attempts to denationalise individuals and render them stateless.317 In 2015, in a decision adopted in relation to the Nubian community in Kenya, the Commission reaffirmed that: [N]ationality is intricately linked to an individual’s juridical personality and that denial of access to identity documents which entitles an individual to enjoy rights associated with citizenship violates an individual’s right to the recognition of his juridical personality. The Commission considers that a claim to citizenship or nationality as a legal status is protected under Article 5 of the Charter.318 In addition, the Commission has held that Article 7(1)(a), with its reference to “the right to an appeal to competent national organs”, includes both the initial right to take a matter to court, as well as the right to appeal from a first instance decision to higher tribunals. In several cases relating to deportations or denial of nationality, the Commission has held that the fact that someone is not a citizen “by itself does not justify his deportation”; there must be a right to challenge expulsion on an individual basis.319 Founding its decisions on Articles 2 and 7 as well as Article 12, the Commission has ruled against Angola, Guinea and Zambia in cases relating to individual deportations or mass expulsions on the basis of ethnicity, commenting that mass expulsions “constitute a special violation of human rights.”320 314 The Right to Nationality in Africa, Study undertaken by the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Internally Displaced Persons, pursuant to Resolution 234 of April 2013 and approved by the Commission at its 55th Ordinary Session, 28 April – 12 May 2014. 315 Resolution 277, on the drafting of a Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Right to Nationality in Africa, adopted at the 55th Ordinary Session, 28 April – 12 May 2014. 316 Decision on the Report of the Activities of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), Doc. EX.CL/968(XXIX), 15 July 2016, paragraph 5. 317 Communication No. 97/93, Modise v. Botswana (2000), paragraph 91. See also Communication No. 212/98, Amnesty International v. Zambia (2000); Communication No. 211/98, Legal Resources Foundation v. Zambia (2001); Communication No. 246/02, Mouvement ivoirien des droits humains (MIDH) v. Côte d’Ivoire (2008). 318 Communication No. 317/06, The Nubian Community v. Kenya (2015). 319 Amnesty International v. Zambia, paragraph 33. See also Communication No. 159/96, Union Interafricaine des Droits de l’Homme and Others v. Angola (1997); Modise v. Botswana; Communications Nos. 27/89, 49/91 and 99/93, Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture and Others v. Rwanda (1996); Communication No. 71/92, Rencontre Africain pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme v. Zambia (1996). 320 Union Interafricaine des Droits de l’Homme and Others v. Angola, paragraph 16. See also Communication No. 292/2004, Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa v. Angola (2008); Rencontre Africaine pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme v. 74 UNHCR / September 2018