that 300 out of 700 learners at a primary school in Kezi, Matabeleland South province, had no identity documents.79 50. Stateless people also struggle to access health care services because of lack of national identity documents. They are excluded from membership of medical societies and life insurance and cannot seek medical health care outside Zimbabwe. Pregnant stateless women, in particular, face barriers accessing services such as assistance during labour, and give birth outside of hospitals, further increasing the risk of their children not receiving documentation and being left stateless.80 On 22 February 2021, the government launched the National COVID-19 Vaccination Program81 which requires identity documents to register for the COVID-19 vaccine. The ID requirements have placed stateless people outside of the protection of the lifesaving Covid-19 vaccine. 51. Undocumented people, or those misrepresented as ‘Aliens’ (foreign citizens) on their identification documents82 are also excluded from participation in electoral processes such as voting, standing for elections into public offices, and joining and forming political parties. Fair trial rights are also negatively impacted, for instance, children without documents to prove their age are at risk of being tried as adults, and may be denied speedy trials and placed outside of the Pre-trial Diversion Programme.83 Prisoners without birth certificates and national identity cards are also at risk of not being granted bail, are prevented from accessing rehabilitative opportunities such as education and vocational skills training, and are ineligible for age-related Presidential amnesties, at a time when there is a critical need to decongest prisons during the Covid19 pandemic.84 Recommendations 52. Based on the above information, the co-submitting organisations urge reviewing States to make the following recommendations to Zimbabwe: I. II. III. Align the Citizenship of Zimbabwe Act to the Constitution, establishing the requirements for Zimbabwean citizenship, allowing for dual citizenship, implementing protections for stateless persons, and removing all discriminatory provisions. Ratify the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and domesticate its provisions through nationality/citizenship laws to ensure that every child enjoys the right to acquire a nationality. Amend the Citizenship of Zimbabwe Act to ensure that all stateless persons born in Zimbabwe and permanently resident in Zimbabwe are granted Zimbabwean citizenship. 79 Bulawayo 24, ‘Shock over high numbers of stateless learners in Matabeleland’, (March 2021), available at: https://bulawayo24.com/index-id-news-sc-national-byo-201127.html. 80 Amnesty International, We Are Like ‘Stray Animals’. Thousands Living on the Margin due to Statelessness in Zimbabwe, Amnesty International, (April 2021), page 33, available at: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr46/3932/2021/en/ 81Gradual Increase in Covid-19 Vaccination, 12 March 2021, Ministry of Health and Child Care, Zimbabwe http://www.mohcc.gov.zw/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=352:gradual-increase-in-covid-19vaccination&catid=84&Itemid=435. 82 Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, Report on National Inquiry on Access to Documentation in Zimbabwe, (April 2020), page 44, available at: http://www.zhrc.org.zw/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/NI-Report-1.pdf. 83 Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, Report on National Inquiry on Access to Documentation in Zimbabwe, (April 2020), page 45, available at: http://www.zhrc.org.zw/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/NI-Report-1.pdf. 84 Zimbabwe Daily, 11 November 2019, Zimbabwe: ‘Stateless’ prisoners rot in jail. 13