CITIZENSHIP AND STATELESSNESS IN THE HORN OF AFRICA \Y requirement of due process. These requirements are summarised and emphasised by UNHCR’s Guidelines on Statelessness No.5, on loss and deprivation of nationality, published in 2020.79 Naturalisation Although the grant of nationality through naturalisation has historically been within the discretion of states, there have been moves to reduce that discretion. At the regional level, the European Convention on Nationality requires a state to “provide in its internal law for the possibility of naturalisation of persons lawfully and habitually resident on its territory” (Article 6(3)), based on a maximum residence period of ten years, including and for facilitated naturalisation for a range of categories of people, spouses, children of people who have or acquire nationality, refugees and stateless persons.?% In its guidelines on preventing statelessness among children, UNHCR notes that : It follows from determine the factual character of “habitual residence” that in cases where it is difficult to whether an individual is habitually resident in one or another State, for example due to a nomadic way of life, such persons are to be considered as habitual residents in both States.?”4 Some obligations are placed on states parties to the naturalisation of refugees and stateless persons. The refugee 1951 UN conventions in relation to facilitating Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees provides (Article 34) that states parties “shall as far as possible facilitate the assimilation and naturalisation of refugees”, by such measures as expediting proceedings and reducing the costs of naturalisation. Similar provisions are included in the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons.2% requires The 1969 OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa (Article IIl.1) that countries of asylum should settlement” of refugees who are unable to return home. to issue travel documents to refugees. use their best endeavours to “secure the Both conventions require countries of asylum Almost all African countries are parties to the UN Refugee Convention (excluding only Eritrea among the countries studied for this report) ,2°° and the great majority to the African Refugee Convention (although they exclude Eritrea and Somalia).29” 292 UNHCR, ‘Guidelines on Statelessness No. 5: Loss and Deprivation of Nationality under Articles 5-9 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness’ (Geneva: United Nations, May 2020). 293 European Convention on Nationality Art. 6(4). 2% UNHCR, Guidelines on Statelessness No. 4, para. 42. 2%5 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, 1954, Art. 32. 2% Excluding only Comoros, Eritrea, Libya, and Mauritius. Several countries have entered reservations to Article 34 of the UN Refugee Convention, including Botswana, Malawi, and Mozambique, indicating that they did not accept any obligation to grant more favourable naturalisation rights to refugees than to other foreigners. List of states parties available at the UN Treaty Collection website, together with reservations and declarations https://treaties.un.org/pages/Treaties. aspx ?id=5&subid=A&lang=en last accessed 07 February 2020. 297 Also excluded are: Madagascar, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, and SGo Tomé & Principe, as well as the SADR. All except for Morocco and SADR had signed but not ratified by end 2019. Status of ratifications available on the African Union website http://www.au.int/en/treaties. Note that Djibouti passed a law ratifying the 1969 Convention in 2006, although this is not recorded on the AU website: Loi n°150/AN/06/5éme L portant ratification de la Convention de l'OUA sur les réfugiés https://www.presidence.dj/PresidenceOld/jo/2006/loi150an06.htm. 66 UNHCR — December 2021