term refugees who have lived in the country for lengthy periods and had no interest in returning to their countries of origin.39 31. In 2015, the Ministry of Internal Affairs embarked on a country wide campaign to enable any non-citizen who ‘has legally and voluntarily migrated to and has been living in Uganda for at least ten years’, pursuant to Article 14 of the Uganda Citizenship and Immigration Control Act to acquire Ugandan citizenship. This provision excludes refugees from registering as they do not meet the ‘voluntary migration’ criteria.40 32. Children of refugees are left stateless, even if they are from a community listed in the Constitution. They do not acquire citizenship based on birth in Uganda. As UNHCR explains: ‘although “Banyarwanda” was listed as one of the “indigenous communities” of Uganda in the 1995 constitution (a controversial decision in the immediate aftermath of the Rwandan genocide) on the grounds that a substantial number of Banyarwanda were included in Uganda by colonial boundaries, children of Rwandan refugees are not attributed Ugandan citizenship at birth. In practice, it is very difficult for officials to distinguish between those who are descendants of Rwandan refugees and those who are Ugandan Banyarwanda. The same is true of Acholi and Kakwa who have fled from South Sudan, and others who are members of cross-border communities’.41 33. In October 2015, following a petition seeking the interpretation of the Constitution42 regarding the eligibility of refugees to acquire Ugandan nationality. the Constitutional Court ruled that refugees can acquire Ugandan citizenship by naturalisation and not by registration.43 Despite this progressive ruling, the reality demonstrates challenges refugees face in successfully naturalising. Relevant authorities have a broad discretionary power to determine whether to approve naturalisation applications, compared to applications for registered citizenship. Refugees approaching the office of the Immigration Department are turned away with the explanation that they are not eligible to apply for naturalised citizenship.44 ISSUE III – Birth registration and children’s right to a nationality 34. Article 7 of the Convention of the Rights of the Child sets out children's right to be registered immediately after birth, to a name, a nationality, and to know and be cared for by their parents. It requires State Parties to fulfil these rights, especially where children would otherwise be stateless.45 Moreover, the African Union agenda 2063, and the African Union Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child all have provisions geared towards ensuring that states remove legal impediments around birth registration and the conferment of nationality. Regarding safeguards against statelessness, Article 6 of the The New Humanitarian Government plans naturalization for refugees, 21 June 2012. https://reliefweb.int/report/uganda/government-plans-naturalization-refugees. 40 Uganda Radio Network, Government Starts Naturalizing Foreign Nationals, 19 January 2015. https://ugandaradionetwork.com/story/government-starts-naturalizing-foreign-nationals#ixzz4IuVcOXPg. 41 Bronwen Manby, Statelessness and Citizenship in the East African Community. UNHCR, (2018), available at: https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/download/66807. 42 Constitution of Uganda 1995, Article 12. 43 Ihttp://citizenshiprightsafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Uganda-ConCt-refugee-eligibility-citizenship-2015.pdf 44 Bronwen Manby, Statelessness and Citizenship in the East African Community. UNHCR, (2018), p. 71, available at: https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/download/66807. 45 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 7. 39 8