nationality by decision of the public authorities, encompassing acquisition of nationality through naturalization and the reacquisition of Ivorian nationality. 3.1.1. Nationality by origin Under French colonial rule and until independence, all individuals living in Côte d’Ivoire, regardless of their birthplace or migration history, were French subjects of French West Africa and the French Community.55 The advent of Côte d’Ivoire as an independent State with delineated boundaries “had as an immediate consequence the arrival of an Ivorian nationality.”56 The first Ivorian legislators drafted a nationality law that was largely modeled on the French Nationality Code, reasoning that “Côte d’Ivoire remains like France, a country of immigration.”57 Although it might not have been the intention at the time, the choices made on various legislative points created the most restrictive nationality regime in West Africa. The Ivorian legislators privileged the automatic attribution of Ivorian “nationality by origin,” in the 1961 Nationality Code’s Title II encompassing Articles 6-9, which was available for three categories of individuals. Article 6 conferred Ivorian nationality by origin for the first group as follows: Is Ivorian, any individual born in Côte d’Ivoire except if both of his or her parents are foreigners. Faced with the choice of whether to privilege the granting of nationality based on jus soli (nationality determined by place of birth) or jus sanguinis (nationality determined by country of parental descent), the deliberations prior to the adoption of the Ivorian Nationality Code reveal something of a circular paradox. The Ivorian legislators acknowledged evidentiary advantages of the jus soli system, which would only require proof of birth in modern-day territory of Côte d’Ivoire; by contrast, following a jus sanguinis regime would require proof of the Ivorian nationality of a person’s parents. The explanatory memorandum to the 1961 Nationality Code explained the challenges as follows: “Linking nationality to descent entails in this case the requirement to prove that one’s ascendants already possess the nationality that an individual claims. This proof becomes materially impossible to bring as long as the civil status system, which is its foundation, only dates to the recent past.”58 As such, “Article 6 enshrines as the principal behind nationality by origin, the first criteria, namely birth in the territory.”59 Nevertheless, the 1961 Nationality Code reserved a “subsidiary role”60 for jus sanguinis acquisition of Ivorian nationality in Article 7, which attributes Ivorian nationality by origin to a second group, namely, those born outside of Côte d’Ivoire to an Ivorian parent. Article 9 created a presumption of birth on Ivorian soil for children of unknown parents found in Côte d’Ivoire. Although the language of Article 9 was silent on the consequences of this presumption of birth in Côte d’Ivoire, the Interministerial Circular of 25 April 1962 established that implicit in this article was a corollary presumption of birth in Côte d’Ivoire to Ivorian parents for 55 For an overview of citizenship rules in colonial French West Africa, see Manby, supra note 13, pp. 6-8. Exposé des Motifs de la Loi de 1961 portant Code de la nationalité ivoirienne, présenté par le Président de la République (on file with author) [hereinafter Exposé des Motifs, 1961]. 57 Rapport de Monsieur Vamé Doumouya, Député, Annexe au Procès-Verbal de la Séance du Mercredi 8 Novembre 1961, Commission des Affaires Générales et Institutionnelles sur le Projet de Loi No. 41 portant Code de la nationalité ivoirienne (on file with author). 58 Exposé des Motifs, 1961, supra note 56. 59 Id. 60 Id. 56 15