STATELESSNESS AND CITIZENSHIP IN THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY among the EAC countries, only Burundi has done so.153 Elsewhere, however, some Rwandan refugees have been rejected or not applied for continuing protection, meaning that their continued legal residence in that country will depend on any arrangements that are made for local integration as Rwandan nationals. In Burundi, naturalisation was offered to Rwandan refugees who wished to acquire Burundian nationality, an offer taken up by only two families (out of an estimated 2,000 Rwandan refugees in total). The application was still being processed as of September 2018. Rwandan refugees who returned to Rwanda before the 2008 nationality law came into force were automatically regarded as having reacquired Rwandan nationality. Those who have returned to Rwanda since 2008, after acquiring another nationality elsewhere, have to go through an application procedure for restoration of nationality.154 The largest group of Rwandan refugees in the other EAC countries is in Uganda (just over 15,500), but there are also many in Tanzania and Kenya; by contrast, the number of Rwandan refugees registered with UNHCR in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was 217,997 as of July 2018.155 Although only Burundi among the EAC countries has formally accepted the ceased circumstances recommendation, the status of the refugees in all the EAC countries remains precarious. Under the EAC freedom of movement regime, refugees willing to apply for a Rwandan passport and thus relinquish their refugee status would be able to regularise their status in other EAC countries. However, some refugees may not be willing to approach the Rwandan authorities. The application is also costly, with a fee of RwF 55,000 and a requirement to file at the Rwandan embassy in the capital city. There have been only limited efforts to facilitate access to documentation of Rwandan nationality among those communities who cannot obtain the nationality of the country where they live. There is also a small group of Rwandans who have been accused of crimes of genocide before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Both those who have served their sentences and those who have been acquitted state that they fear to return to Rwanda, on the grounds that they may be charged with additional offences. Their travel documents have expired and can only be renewed in Kigali. Eleven people (eight acquitted and three now released from prison) were known to be in Tanzania as of 2015, with no access to documents granting them a legal residence status.156 Long term migrants and their children African states face the same contemporary challenges of migration as states in other parts of the world in this era of globalisation: the conundrum of how to integrate migrants and their children into the national polity. Like other regions of Africa, East Africa hosts many hundreds of thousands of people who have moved from their country “of origin”, some as refugees and some as economic migrants (though the distinction may be hard to draw). Some of these migrant populations have been resident in the “new” country for decades; many hold no documents from their country of origin, have no ongoing connections there, and are completely integrated into their host communities. In some cases, those who originally migrated have now 153 In Africa, only Malawi, the Republic of Congo, Zambia and Zimbabwe initially accepted the recommendation. “No consensus on implementation of cessation clause for Rwandan refugees”, IRIN, 12 July 2013. By 2017, they had been joined by Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. UNHCR, “Update on assisted voluntary repatriation to Rwanda”, 1-31 July 2017. 154 Article 7 of the 2003 Constitution of Rwanda stated that “Rwandans or their descendants who were deprived of their nationality between 1st November 1959 and 31 December 1994 by reason of acquisition of foreign nationalities automatically reacquire Rwandan nationality if they return to settle in Rwanda.” This article was implemented by the 2004 nationality law. However, those returning to Rwanda since the adoption of the 2008 nationality law have to go through a formal procedure to reacquire nationality. The revised constitution adopted in 2015 does not include this provision. 155 UNHCR, “Uganda Operational Update”, July 2018; UNHCR, “Update on assisted voluntary repatriation to Rwanda”, 1-31 July 2017; UNHCR, “Democratic Republic of the Congo Operational Update”, July 2018. 156 Summary of presentation by Donald Deya, Pan African Lawyers Union, in The Right to Nationality in the East African Community, EACSOF, 2 December 2015. 42 UNHCR / September 2018