origin living in Cote d’Ivoire. The objective of this text was to restore, for a period of two years, the right to acquire nationality by simplified procedures that had been open to the same groups under the Ivorian nationality code in 1961, but removed in 1972.149 This law adopted by the National Assembly in 2004 was amended in 2005 by two presidential decisions.150 The law had no significant effect in practice, due to the lack of awareness by the populations concerned: 1,800 applications to acquire nationality were filed, and not a single naturalisation decree was signed.151 In 2013, the principles of the 2004 law, as amended by the presidential decisions of 2005, were revived through the adoption of a law that again provides access to special temporary naturalisation procedures, allowing for a two-year time frame for the same groups of persons to apply to acquire nationality through a more straight-forward and less discretionary declaration procedure. That is, persons born in Côte d’Ivoire of foreign parents aged less than 21 years old on 20 December 1961, persons who were habitually resident in Côte d’Ivoire before 7 August 1960, and persons born in Côte d’Ivoire of foreign parents between 7 August 1960 and 25 January 1972.152 The new law, however, only restored the right to opt for those children born before the 1972 amendment to the 1961 nationality code took effect (that is, before 26 January 1973), and only for a limited period: those born in the country since then of two foreign parents still have no rights based on birth and residence in the country unless they can benefit from the 2013 temporary procedures. Today, the Ivorian government estimates there are around 700,000 persons who are stateless or at risk of statelessness in Côte d’Ivoire.153 141 Martin Uzochukwu Gasiokwu, ECOWAS : Problems of citizenship and free movement, Jos, Nigeria : Mono Expressions, 1998. 142 Georges Photios Tapinos, « La population étrangère », in Georges Photios Tapinos, Hugon Philippe et Vimard Patrice (eds.) La Côte d’Ivoire à l’aube du XXIe siècle. Défis démographiques et développement durable, Paris: Karthala, 2001; United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division Trends in International Migrant Stock: The 2008 Revision, United Nations database, POP/DB/MIG/Stock/Rev.2008. 143 Articles 17-23 and 105 of the Code de la nationalité 1961. 144 “Est ivoirien tout individu né en Côte d’Ivoire sauf si les deux parents sont étrangers”, Art 6 Loi No.61-415 portant Code de la nationalité ivoirienne. Art.7 provided for citizenship by descent for those born outside the country if one parent was Ivorian (l’enfant … né à l’étranger d’un parent ivoirien) – the importance of the difference in wording between the two articles was not clear. 145 Projet de loi portant dispositions particulières en matière d’acquisition de la nationalité par déclaration, Exposé des motifs, Présidence de la République de Cote d’Ivoire, 6 June 2013. 146 Article 25, Constitution of Côte d’Ivoire, 2000. ( « Le Président de la République … doit être ivoirien d’origine, né de père et mère eux-mêmes ivoiriens d’origine. Il doit n’avoir jamais renoncé à la nationalité ivoirienne. Il ne doit être jamais prévalu d’une autre nationalité. ») 147 Bronwen Manby, Struggles for Citizenship in Africa, London: Zed Books, 2009; Ruth Marshall-Fratani, “The war of ‘Who is Who’: Autochthony, Nationalism and Citizenship in the Ivorian Crisis”, in Dorman et al, Making Nations, Creating Strangers, 2007. 148 Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, Internal displacement in Côte d’Ivoire: a protection crisis, Norwegian Refugee Council November 2005 ; 2005 UNHCR Statistical Yearbook, Cote d’Ivoire (there were around 45,000 refugees and asylum seekers from Côte d’Ivoire at the peak in 2003). 149 Loi No.2004-663 du 17 décembre 2004 portant dispositions spéciales en matière de naturalisation. 150 Décision No.2005-04/PR du 15 juillet 2005 portant dispositions spéciales en matière de naturalisation ; Décision No. 2005-09/PR du 29 août 2005 relative au Code de la nationalité. Under Article 48 of the Constitution, a presidential decision can amend a law during a period of exception. 151 Information supplied by Paul Koreki, Technical adviser, Ministry of Justice, Human Rights and Civil Liberties, June 2015. 152 Loi No.2013-654 du 13 septembre 2013. 153 “Côte d'Ivoire becomes latest country to accede to statelessness conventions”, UNHCR Briefing Notes, 4 October 2013; Soumission du Haut-Commissariat des Nations Unies pour les Réfugiés Pour la compilation établie 48