exclusion and xenophobia” as well as to “Put in place mechanisms for granting rights of residence and establishment to refugees from ECOWAS countries.”290 5.2. ECOWAS Citizenship In addition to its treaty framework on free movement, in 1982 ECOWAS adopted the Protocol Relating to the Definition of a Community Citizen. The Protocol provides an important recognition of the common rights and obligations among the nationals of West African states. The meaning of the Protocol, including the content of ECOWAS citizenship and the actions required of Member States, is, however, very hard to understand. Article 1 of the protocol, “on the acquisition of community citizenship” provides for four ways of becoming a community citizen: by descent, by place of birth (providing one parent is a national), by adoption and by naturalisation: 1. A CITIZEN OF THE COMMUNITY IS : a) Any person who is a national by descent of a Member State and is not a national of any nonMember State of the Community. b) Any person who is a national by birth of any of the Member States either of whose parents is a national by sub-paragraph (1) above provided that such a person on attaining the age of 21 decides to take up the nationality of the Member State.291 However, a person who had already attained the age of 21 before coming into force of this protocol and who is of dual nationality shall renounce the nationality of that parent who is not a national by virtue of sub-paragraph (a) above. c) i) Any adopted child who at birth is not a citizen of the Community or whose nationality is unknown but who on attaining the age of 21 expressly takes up the nationality of his adoptive parent who is a community citizen. ii) An adopted person who has already attained maturity before the coming into force of this Protocol and who is of dual nationality shall expressly renounce the nationality of any State outside the Community. iii) Any child adopted by a citizen of the Community provided that the child has not attained his maturity to decide on the nationality of his own choice. d) A naturalised person of a Member State who has beforehand made a formal application and satisfies the following conditions : i) had renounced the nationality of any State outside the Community and such a renunciation is explicitly supported by an act of renunciation duly authenticated by the appropriate authorities of the country or countries whose nationality or nationalities he formerly enjoyed, and ii) had effectively resided permanently in a Member State for a continuous period of fifteen years preceding his application for Community citizenship. Such residence shall mean a permanent establishment of abode on the territory of a Member State without any subsequent transfer to any State outside the Community. The ECOWAS Council of Ministers or any organ of the Community invested of such power at the request of a Member State may reduce this period of fifteen years for the benefit of a person because of exceptional services that such a person had rendered to the Community or because of any other special consideration. 290 Common Approach on Migration, paragraph 2.5. Note that this sub-article continues to place the emphasis on descent even though the French text clarifies that “by birth” means based on place of birth, not that a person is a citizen from the time of birth: “Toute personne qui a la nationalité d’un Etat Membre par le lieu de naissance et dont l’un ou l’autre des parents est citoyen de la Communauté » 291 83