18. States, with the support of academics, undertake a review of their nationality laws in
light of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and other international
and regional standards;
19. NHRIs and UNHCR sensitize governments and Parliaments on the content of these
Conventions and on the manner in which they should be inserted into national law;
20. civil society actors submit regular reports on the implementation of the Conventions
to ECOWAS (notably to the Social Affairs Commission and the Office of the
President);
21. ECOWAS adopts a directive on the adoption of the Conventions on Statelessness by
those Member States who have not yet done so.
On the implementation of the ECOWAS biometric identification cards project
Participants recommend that:
22. ECOWAS urges States to remove all obstacles to obtaining the biometric
identification cards, by facilitating access by their population to identification and
nationality documents;
23. States take measures to issue a unique identification number during birth registrations.
On the improvement of nationality identification mechanisms
In order to implement commitments 715, 816 and 917, participants recommend that:
ensure that every child acquires a nationality at birth and that all foundlings are considered nationals of the State
in which they are found
13
We affirm our commitment to implement, as appropriate, the relevant provisions of the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human
and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa and to ensure that men and women have equal rights to
acquire , change and retain their nationality and confer nationality to their children;
14
We invite the member States who have not yet done so to accede as soon as possible to the 1961 Convention
on the Reduction of Statelessness and call upon all Member States, with the support of UNHCR, to review their
nationality laws and related legislation to bring them into line with the Convention
15
We undertake to ensure that all individuals entitled to nationality under domestic law are able to acquire
documentary proof of their nationality;
6