3. Nationality administration in practice
The systems for proof of nationality are in practice often as important as the provisions of the law on
the qualifications in principle. If there are onerous requirements or costs attached to proof of
nationality, or discrimination in practice means that proof is not obtainable, then the fact that a person
actually fulfils the conditions laid down in law may count for little. In conflict-affected countries or
regions, nationality and documentation systems are of course generally weakened, especially when
records are destroyed and key staff flee the area.
3.1. Civil registration
International and African human rights standards provide that every child has the right to registration
immediately after birth.83 Birth registration is central to nationality administration. It establishes in
legal terms a person’s place of birth and parental affiliation, which in turn serves as documentary proof
underpinning acquisition of the parents’ nationality (jus sanguinis), or the nationality of the state
where the child is born (jus soli). Birth registration, while not itself conferring nationality, is usually
fundamental to the recognition of nationality, and thus of all other rights that follow: lack of birth
certificates can prevent citizens from registering to vote, putting their children in school or entering
them for public exams, accessing health care, or obtaining identity cards, passports, and other
important documents.
Table 7: Birth registration rates in West Africa (percentage of children under five)84
Country
Benin
Burkina Faso
Cape Verde
Côte d’Ivoire
Gambia
Ghana
Guinea
G. Bissau
Liberia
Mali
Niger
Nigeria
Senegal
S. Leone
Togo
Total
80
77
91
65
53
63
43
24
4
81
32
42
75
78
78
Urban
Rural
87
93
85
54
72
78
30
5
92
71
63
89
78
93
76
74
54
52
55
33
21
3
77
25
32
66
78
71
[less than 50% highlighted in bold]
According to surveys conducted by UNICEF, the UN Children’s Fund, birth registration figures in
ECOWAS countries range from more than 90 percent of all births (Cape Verde) to fewer than ten
percent (Liberia). Even where births are registered correctly, record keeping and preservation may be
very weak, meaning that a person seeking to obtain a copy of a birth certificate after several years
may find it impossible to do so. In some cases, records have been destroyed. Birth registration rates
83
Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 7; African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, Article
6. See also the General Comment on Article 6 by the African Committee of Experts, extracted in Annex 8.1.
84
UNICEF, Every Child’s Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration, 2013. [-] indicates information
not available. Reference years vary from 2005 to 2012.
32