________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ AJSW, Volume 9 Number 1 2019 NCUBE, N.; CHIMBWANDA, T.; & NCUMISA, W. current birth certificates for refugee children and initial birth certificates born to refugees, asylum seekers and not of concern persons in the Tongogara Refugee Camp and other contexts of fragility. Further to this, the Act should also be amended to include rights and responsibilities of asylum seekers. At an implementation level there is also a need to put in place measures to aid or prevent statelessness of clandestine (that is: undocumented and/or stateless) persons. In order to address statelessness, we recommend that the Zimbabwe establish regularisation options for existing undocumented migrants. Lessons can be learned from the South African legal approach. In an attempt todeal with the increasing numbers of undocumented migrants from its neighbour, Zimbabwe, the Department of Home Affairs introduced the Zimbabwean Special Permit (ZSP) in 2014 and the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) in 2017 for the regularisation of undocumented Zimbabwean migrants in South Africa (DHA, 2017). Both the ZSP and the ZEP relaxed the customary work permit requirements for all undocumented Zimbabwean migrants unlawfully present in South Africa to be regulated and documented. The Government of Zimbabwe should also consider entering into bilateral agreements with sending countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Rwanda Mozambique – all of which have the highest number of refugee children (including asylum seekers), aged below the age of majority (18 years). Refugees and asylum seekers from these countries could be offered special work permits as with the case of the Zimbabwean Dispensation Permit. In this way the State would be addressing existing issues pertaining to clandestine persons. This will consequently eliminate the proliferation of statelessness. Furthermore, the State should consider adopting other legislative measures such as the passing and adopting of an Act which specifically aims to prevent statelessness. The Act should draw on the prevention mechanisms contained in the 1961 UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. Such an Act should have proper procedural avenues which prevent stateless and provide documentation opportunities for those who are stateless or in danger of being stateless in Zimbabwe. CONCLUSION This discussion paper laid out the country’s legal frameworks on birth registration and citizenship, highlighting the policy gaps that render refugee children and children of asylum seekers in the Tongogara Refugee Camp especially vulnerable. It has also presented Zimbabwe’s socio-economic background in order to provide a better understanding of Zimbabwe as a fragile state. It has also discussed the some of the citizenship alterities that arise from this the country’s unique landscape. The paper has argued for a human rights-based approach towards refugee and asylum seeking children. and children born of undocumented persons in order to address the vulnerable situation caused by the lack of birth registration. It has recommended certain legislative reforms, which the authors argue will not only optimise birth registrations, but also reduce statelessness. The policy reforms proposed in this paper would allow the State to give effect to the maxims of the best interest of the child, thereby giving effect to Zimbabwean’s international and national obligations towards birth registration. African Journal of Social Work, 9(1), 2019 70 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________