CITIZENSHIP AND STATELESSNESS
IN THE HORN OF AFRICA
5. Groups at risk of
statelessness
The categories of people at risk of statelessness in the Horn of Africa are similar to those in other parts
of the African continent. They include:
»
Vulnerable children of different categories,
including foundlings, children born out of wedlock,
orphans, and others separated from their parents;
»
People
of mixed
parentage
or potential dual
nationality (but who
have
no documentation
of
either nationality);
"
Cross-border populations and nomadic pastoralists;
»
Long-term refugees and former refugees, and their descendants;
»
Migrants
with
irregular
immigration
status,
especially
those
with
no
documents,
and
their
descendants.
These groups exist in every country of the region. In addition, this report highlights two particular groups
at risk of statelessness: the members of minority communities in Somalia (whose degree of risk may
vary according to which
minority they belong to); and people of Eritrean descent
(or mixed
Eritrean-
Ethiopian descent) living in Ethiopia.
It is not possible to provide statistics on how many are stateless: statelessness is often only a situation
that becomes apparent over time, after repeated efforts to obtain documents from the authorities of one
or more countries. It is, in the end, an individual and not a group condition, and different members of a
group sharing some characteristics may succeed or fail in obtaining recognition of nationality because
of their different circumstances. Thus, the categories here are of people “at risk of’ statelessness:
not
all those fitting the description of each group will in fact be stateless, and the level of risk may vary.
To
address
the
challenge
of
measuring
the
scale
of
the
problem
of
statelessness,
UNHCR
is
collaborating with other UN agencies, including the Statistical Commission, to improve the collection of
statistics
on
stateless
persons
and
those
of undetermined
Recommendations
on Statelessness Statistics (IROSS)
propose
of
collection
data
in
relation
to
three
nationality.2°°
The
draft
International
published for consultation in February 2021
categories:
“a)
Stateless
people,
b)
People
with
undetermined nationality, and c) Stateless-related people, an optional category comprising people who
were previously stateless and the children and family members of people who are currently stateless.”2°'
200 Lily Chen, Petra Nahmias, and Sebastian Steinmueller, “UNHCR Statistical Reporting on Statelessness” UNHCR Statistics Technical Series 2019/1
https://www.unhcr.org/5d9e182e7.pdf.
201 Expert Group on Refugee and Internally Displaced Persons Statistics, “International Recommendations on Statelessness Statistics (IROSS): [ROSS Challenges,
Opportunities and Progress Paper”, UN Statistical Commission, February 2021 para. 19
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AeyEk7CFOnVPCI4ZDO2bg!1ej34a4RCY/view
48
UNHCR
— December 2021