article 5(d)(iii)), the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (see article 18),
and the International Convention for the Protection of All persons from Enforced
Disappearance (see article 25). Furthermore, the right to a nationality is protected in
Article 15 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.
11. Tanzania has ratified the 1990 African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child
(ACRWC), which affirms the right of every child to a nationality, also requiring States
Parties to grant nationality to otherwise stateless children born on the territory under
Article 6. Tanzania has also ratified the 2003 Protocol to the African Charter on Human
and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, which contains provisions that are
relevant to the right to nationality. Tanzania has also ratified the African Charter of
Human and People's Rights, and although this does not contain a provision on the right
to nationality, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which oversees
the implementation of the Charter, has found that Article 5, which affirms “[…] the right
[…] to the recognition of legal status”, includes the right to nationality.7
12. Tanzania has also made commitments to eradicate statelessness by signing the
Declaration of the International Conference of Great Lake Region’s (ICGLR) Member
States on the Eradication of Statelessness in 2017. In April 2019, during the ICGLR
ministerial meeting in Nairobi, Tanzania made pledges towards the eradication of
statelessness in the region by, inter alia, pledging to ratify the two Statelessness
Conventions. Furthermore, Tanzania took part in the review of the Draft Protocol to the
African Charter on the Right to Nationality and the Eradication of Statelessness in Africa.
13. Tanzania also made pledges to, inter alia, continue registration and documentation of
refugees and asylum seekers, and to improve protection and assistance for refugees and
stateless persons during the Ministerial Intergovernmental Event on Refugees and
Stateless Persons in 2011.8
14. In addition and on the basis of article 9 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination against Women, in 2016, the Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women recommended that Tanzania expedite its law review
process, with a view to ensuring that all discriminatory legislation, including the Tanzania
Citizenship Act (1995) and inheritance laws, is repealed or amended so as to bring it into
conformity with the Convention and to ensure that women and men enjoy equal rights
to acquire, change, transfer and retain nationality. It also recommended that Tanzania
accede to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961
Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.9
15. In 2015, the Committee on the Rights of the Child reiterated a previous
recommendation, namely to:
.
.
.
(a) Equip decentralised government authorities at the local level and health
facilities to register births and issue birth certificates;
(b) Allocate sufficient funds for strengthening birth-registration initiatives;
(c) Provide birth registration and issue birth certificates free of charge for
children under 5 years of age;
7
Including in African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, John K. Modise v. Botswana, no. 97/93 (2000).
UNHCR, ‘Pledges 2011: Ministerial Intergovernmental Event on Refugees and Stateless Persons’,
<https://www.unhcr.org/4ff55a319.pdf>.
9 CEDAW, ‘Concluding observations on the combined seventh and eighth periodic reports of the United Republic of Tanzania’
CEDAW/C/TZA/CO/7-8 (9 March 2016).
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