AHMR African Human Mobilty Review - Volume 8 No 3, SEP-DEC 2022
engaged with topics such as gender, the generational impacts of statelessness, legal
protections, the application of immigration laws and detention, mental health, and
climate change. Some of the articles in this issue examine situations of statelessness
broadly on the continent, with a focus on Southern Africa. Other articles analyse
aspects of statelessness in specific states. While it is correct to view the problem of
statelessness mostly as a failure of law and policy as well as a result of discrimination,
the articles also broach the possibilities of “solutions from below” whereby stateless
persons themselves can shape the improvement of their situations.
Unfortunately, globally, close to 20 countries continue to have legislation that
does not allow women to pass their nationality to their children on the same basis
as men.29 There is also a possibility that women may be discriminated against in
their ability to confer a nationality to a spouse, or to acquire, change, and retain
their nationality. It is hence no surprise that gender-based discrimination is ‘a leading
cause of statelessness worldwide’, which the article by Beninger and Manjoo firmly
underscores with an anchor on Africa. Their article, richly substantiated, makes
a strong case for the challenges that stateless persons, especially women, face in
‘exercising a range of internationally protected civil, political, social, and economic
rights’.
As such, the authors do not shy away from locating the gender gaps in
international laws on statelessness. As the article zooms on Southern Africa, the
relevant regional and sub-regional instruments (including the Draft Protocol on
Nationality) benefit from a gender-lens exposé; indeed, it might come as a surprise
to learn that ‘even the Maputo Protocol provides an exception allowing states to
retain gender discriminatory laws with respect to passing nationality to children’.
The authors’ overall assessment is that there is progress in some areas of the law
(both international and national), especially in reforming gender-discriminatory
laws; at the same time, the article details ongoing challenges in bridging the gap of
statelessness due to gender discrimination gap.
Warria and Chikadzi contribute a psychosocial approach to a predominantly
legal examination of statelessness in Africa. This approach draws attention to the
stress and trauma experienced by stateless persons as individuals. Thus, it also
underscores the humanity and personhood of a stateless person - something which
is often underrepresented in discussions of stateless persons as a group. Statelessness
affects the ability of individuals to meet their basic needs, access services such as
education and healthcare and realise their human rights. The authors demonstrate
the difference between big ‘T’ trauma and little ‘t’ trauma by emphasising how dayto-day traumas (little ‘t’ traumas) negatively affect stateless persons. The article uses a
case study of a young man in South Africa to illustrate the cumulative effects of little
‘t’ traumas. Acknowledging the stress and trauma as a result of statelessness should
be part not only of understanding the problem, but of pursuing solutions to it. In this
regard, the authors advocate for a holistic and collaborative approach among policy29
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See Equal Nationality Rights ‘The problem’ (2019), available at https://equalnationalityrights.org/the-issue/the-problem