Liberian. In practice, those who have a foreign father may be treated as foreign themselves, even if born in the country of a Liberian mother.48 A number of other West African countries create more limited rights based on birth in the country. Benin, Burkina Faso and Guinea all provide that a child born in the country of foreign parents who is still resident there at majority acquires nationality of origin automatically on reaching majority. Guinea’s Code civil also states that a child born in the country can opt for nationality after five years. In Mali and Togo a child born in the country of foreign parents may acquire nationality at majority on application. Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Senegal apply the double jus soli rule that a child born in the country of one parent also born there is a national from birth (though in Mali, the parent must have the nationality of another African state, and in Benin and Guinea the child may repudiate this nationality at majority if it is the mother who was also born in the country). Sierra Leone provides that a child with a parent or grandparent born in the country is Sierra Leonean provided the ancestor was “of negro-African descent”. 49 Several of the francophone countries include a provision in their nationality law that a person who is in possession d’etat de national – who has always been treated as a national – can apply to court for a certificate of nationality to confirm the presumption. In principle, such a system should provide an important safeguard against statelessness in countries where birth registration is low. However, in practice, the provisions on possession d’état are often conflated with other rules: for example, in Senegal the usual interpretation is that possession d’état de sénégalais is coterminous with the provision in the same article of the nationality code for a person born in Senegal of one parent also born there to be Senegalese.50 In Togo, the nationality code itself makes the concept additional rather than alternative, by providing that a child born in the country is Togolese if both parents were also born there and the child is habitually resident there and is in possession d’état de togolais.51 A number of states provide for children whose parents are stateless to acquire the nationality of their country of birth, including Benin, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau and Togo; however, only Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau and Togo in West Africa provide (in line with the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child) for children who cannot obtain the nationality of their parents (which may be the case even the parents themselves have a nationality) to obtain the nationality of their country of birth.52 More common are provisions relating to abandoned children. Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger and Senegal provide a right for foundlings (abandoned newborn children, l’enfant nouveau-né trouvé) to be presumed nationals; in the case of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger and Togo (but not Senegal) this right is extended to children 48 Aliens and Nationality Law, 1973, Article 20.1(a); Constitution, Article 28; Study on Nationality and Statelessness in Liberia : Analysis of the Legal and Administrative Framework, UNHCR forthcoming. 49 Sierra Leone Citizenship Act 1973 Arts 2 and 3; until the law was amended in 2006 it was only through the birth on the territory of the father and grandfather that there was access to nationality. 50 Article 1, Code de la nationalité sénégalaise ; interviews, tribunal presidents, Senegal, June 2014. 51 Benin Code de la nationalité 1965, Arts 7-11, 24 & 28 ; Burkina Faso, Code des personnes et de la famille 1989, Arts 141-144 & 155-161 ; Guinea Code civil 1983, Arts 34-37 and 56 ; Liberia Aliens and Nationality Law 1973, Art 20.1; Mali Code des personnes et de la famille, 2011, Arts 225-226; Niger Code de la nationalité 1984 (amended 1999) Arts 8 and 10 ; Senegal Code de la nationalité 1961 (amended 2013) Arts 1 and 3 ; Togo Code de la nationalité 1978 Arts 1 and 8. 52 Togo Code de la nationalité art 2 18