CITIZENSHIP AND STATELESSNESS IN THE MEMBER STATES OF THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY 2020 treated as established, and a nationality certificate issued by a court, if they have always been treated as a national, in the absence of proof to the contrary.338 Judicial and other oversight of administrative decisions Among the most important protections against statelessness is the right of an individual to appeal decisions relating to the right to a nationality and the issue of identity documents, through both administrative and judicial channels. For judicial oversight to be meaningful, it is necessary that administrative decisions rejecting an application be reasoned.339 This applies both to recognition of nationality (for example the issue or denial of an identity card, passport or voter registration) and deprivation of nationality (the positive decision to withdraw a person’s citizenship, but also potentially in case of an administrative decision to refuse to renew any of the above documents). Some SADC states provide clear access to the courts in this regard. In many cases, however, these decisions are made in law by the minister, and in practice by officials of the relevant ministry, some at the lowest level. It is also the case that, whereas independent electoral commissions have been established to conduct voter registration, there are no independent identity commissions to supervise the issue of identity documents – while voter registration increasingly depends on possession of a national identity card. The civil law countries usually provide an automatic right to challenge an administrative decision of this type in the courts, and the nationality law explicitly establishes which courts have jurisdiction. This is the case in Comoros340 and in Madagascar.341 Angola’s 2016 nationality law moved the competence to hear such cases from the Supreme Court to the civil and administrative chamber of the Tribunal da relação342, a second instance tribunal established by law the same year343, to create easier access to justice (due to start operating in 2019; it is planned to have one such court in Luanda and one in Benguela). Angola also established an inter-ministerial committee (Comissão de Acompanhamento dos Processos de Atribuição da Nacionalidade), coordinated by the Ministry of Justice, to consider deprivation of nationality and requests for naturalisation or reacquisition.344 In Mozambique, by contrast, where the nationality law has not been updated to reflect the provisions of the 2004 constitution, the nationality law and regulation do not establish which courts may hear cases relating to nationality; the constitution, however, provides in detail for administrative review of executive decisions.345 338 Ibid., art. 81 “Lorsque la nationalité malgache ne peut avoir sa source que dans la filiation, elle est tenue pour établir, sauf la preuve contraire, si l’intéressé et l’auteur qui a été susceptible de la lui transmettre ont joui d’une façon constante de la possession d’état de Malgache." 339 See UNHCR, “Guidelines on Statelessness No. 5: Loss and Deprivation of Nationality under Articles 5-9 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness” (Geneva: United Nations, May 2020). 340 Loi No.79-12 du 12 décembre 1979 portant Code de la nationalité comorienne, titre V: du contentieux de la nationalité 341 Ordonnance n° 60-064 du 22 juillet 1960 portant Code de la nationalité malgache, modifiée 2016, titre V: du contentieux de la nationalité 342 Lei No.2/16 de 15 de Abril, art.31. 343 Lei No.1/16 de 10 de Fevereiro. 344 Decreto presidencial No.152/17 de 4 de Julho regulamento da lei da nacionalidade, arts. 23-30. See discussion of these steps in Jerónimo, “Report on Citizenship Law: Angola”. 345 Lei de 20 de Junho de 1975 alterada pela Lei No.16/87 de 21 de Dezembro, art.15 ; Decreto no.3/75 de 16 de Agosto, alterada pelo Decreto no.5/88 de 8 de Abril, art.21-23; Constitution, 2004, Título IX: Tribunais. See discussion in Jerónimo, “Report on Citizenship Law: Mozambique”. UNHCR / December, 2020 81