STATELESSNESS AND CITIZENSHIP IN THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY
Methodology and acknowledgements
This report was written on the basis of desk and field research conducted from May-August 2016 in the
six Partner States of the East African Community (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania,
Uganda), and has been updated to June 2018. The author visited Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda,
and conducted interviews with state officials, relevant staff of UNHCR and other international agencies,
national civil society groups, and institutions and organisations (such as children’s homes and legal aid
clinics) likely to have encountered individuals affected by these problems, as well as representatives of
affected communities introduced by these key informants.
The report was presented and debated during a two-day meeting held in Arusha, Tanzania, in March
2017, with the participation of representatives of the Kenyan, Burundian, and South Sudanese
governments, and experts from other countries in the region. It was updated to take into account those
comments, which were much appreciated. It was discussed again among EAC representatives at the first
meeting of government focal points on statelessness in the Member States of the International
Conference on the Great Lakes Region held in Naivasha, Kenya, in April 2018; subsequent written
comments from the state representatives of Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Tanzania were
incorporated into the final draft.
The research did not include any quantitative survey to establish the extent of statelessness, but sought
rather to identify stateless and at-risk groups based on a mix of legal analysis and qualitative field
research. The report must be regarded as the foundation for further study of statelessness issues in each
country.
The tables comparing provisions of national citizenship laws included throughout the report inevitably
involve some simplification of complex provisions, and should not be relied upon for definitive statement
of the law: those wishing to understand particular provisions should rather refer to the original texts.
The author would like to thank the staff of UNHCR who provided invaluable logistical support and
technical advice, especially: June Munala and Benedicte Voos (succeeding each other in the Regional
Support Centre for the East, Central, Horn of Africa and Great Lakes Region), Laura Parker (in the Regional
Support Centre, for updating and editing assistance), Wanja Munaita (Kenya), Florian Hoepfner (Rwanda),
Godlove Kifikilo (Tanzania), and Umar Yakhyaev (Uganda). In addition, in Kenya, thanks are due to Diana
Gichengo of the Kenya Human Rights Commission, Mustafa Mahmoud of Namati, and Phelix Lore of the
Haki Centre; in Tanzania, to Professor Bonaventure Rutinwa of the University of Dar es Salaam; and in
Uganda, to Hala Al-Karib of the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) and to Marshall
Alenyo. The Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (Banjul) kindly facilitated the research.
Thanks also to the following people for their comments and contributions to drafts of this report: Olivia
Bueno and Lucy Hovil (International Refugee Rights Initiative), Ibrahima Kane (Open Society Foundations),
Tamara Keating (IOM), Godlove Kifikilo (UNHCR), Amelia Kuch (University of Edinburgh), Mustafa
Mahmoud (Namati), Jonathan Marskell (World Bank), Joe Oloka Onyango (Makerere University), and Jaap
van der Straaten. Particular thanks to Marshall Alenyo for contributions to the research based on his
encyclopaedic knowledge of citizenship law and its application in Uganda.
The views expressed and any errors are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the official
view of UNHCR.
This report may be quoted, cited, and uploaded to other websites, provided that the source is
acknowledged.
***
Dedicated to the memory of Adam Hussein Adam
ii
UNHCR / September 2018