CITIZENSHIP AND STATELESSNESS IN THE HORN OF AFRICA 4 Nationality in the era of European colonisation Ethiopia Ethiopia was the first sub-Saharan African country to have its own nationality law, adopted in 1930 by the Emperor Haile Selassie during the first year of his reign, the year before the first modern constitution of 1931.19 The 1931 constitution itself stated only that “All the natives of Ethiopia, subjects of the empire, form together the Ethiopian (especially Switzerland) Empire”; the details were left to the law.'' within a general effort to modernise Looking to European the Ethiopian models state, the nationality law adopted a descent-based system through the male line only, unless the child was born out of wedlock (a concept imported from Europe, since the concept of illegitimacy was largely unknown in Ethiopia).'2 Women was married to Ethiopian men automatically acquired Ethiopian nationality; naturalisation for others permitted on the basis of quite stringent conditions, including fluent knowledge of written and spoken Amharic; though in 1933 the law was amended to allow the emperor to waive the conditions at his discretion.'? The law did not permit loss of Ethiopian nationality in any other circumstances than acquisition of another nationality; and reacquisition of Ethiopian nationality required only return to Ethiopia, renunciation of the other nationality, and application for readmission, with no discretion. Eritrea and Somalia The Italians adopted a civil code for Eritrea in 1909, which stated that those who were native to the colony, or belonged to a tribe originating there, were “colonial subjects” (sudditi coloniali).'‘* An ordinance provided similar rules for Italian Somalia in 1911.'> A law of 1933, which reconfigured the structures of government in the two colonies, provided a more elaborated definition of those who were “Eritrean or Somali subjects”. They included: all those individuals living in Eritrea or Italian Somalia who were not Italian citizens, or citizens or subjects of any other state; those born of an Eritrean or Somali father (or mother, if the father was women married to an Eritrean or Somali subject; and “an individual belonging to an African or Asian population who had unknown); those born in Eritrea or Somalia if both parents were unknown; provided civil or military service in the colony’.'® The various laws established a racial hierarchy in which only those who were white or of mixed race, and fulfilled further conditions showing their assimilation to Italy, had the possibility of acquiring Italian citizenship (cittadinanza) with 10 Proclamation Promulgating the Ethiopian Nationality Law, 22 July 1930 (15 Hamle 1922, Ethiopian calendar). See also Aberra Jembere, An Introduction to the Legal History of Ethiopia: 1434 - 1974 (Minster: Lit Verlag, 2000). 11 Constitution of Ethiopia, 1931, Articles 1 and 18. ?2 Although the law was gender-neutral at first sight, the provisions setting out the arrangements through which children born of mixed marriages could establish their Ethiopian nationality stated that: “Every child born in a lawful mixed marriage follows the nationality of its father.” Ethiopia Nationality Law, July 1930, sections 1 and 6. See also Robert Allen Sedler, ‘Nationality, Domicile and the Personal Law in Ethiopia’, Journal of Ethiopian Law 2, no. 1 (1965): 161-79; Nahum, ‘Ethiopian Nationality Law and Practice’. 13 Proclamation amending the Nationality Law of 15 Hamle 1922, 25 Meskerem 1926 (Ethiopian calendar). 4 Codice civil per la Colonia Eritrea approvato con regio decreto 28 giugno 1980 no.589. 45 Ordinamento giudiziario per la Somalia Italiana, approvato con regio decreto 8 giugno 1911, no.937. Both laws extracted in Felice de Dominicis, Commento alla legge sulla Cittadinanza Italiana del 13 giugno 1912 (Turin: Unione Tipografico-Editrice Torinese, 1916). 16 Legge 6 luglio 1933, No. 999, Ordinamento organico per I’Eritrea e la Somalia, art.15. 10 UNHCR — December 2021