CITIZENSHIP AND STATELESSNESS IN THE MEMBER STATES OF THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY 2020 Table 1: The right to nationality for children born in the country COUNTRY BIRTH IN THE COUNTRY BIRTH & ONE PARENT ALSO BORN BIRTH AND RESIDENT AT MAJORITY ANGOLA PARENTS STATELESS (PS) OR OF UNKNOWN NATIONALITY (PUN) OR CHILD OTHERWISE STATELESS (OS) ABANDONED INFANT (AI) OR PARENTS UNKNOWN (PU) – WITH AGE OF CHILD IF GIVEN89 RELEVANT LEGAL PROVISION (DATE OF LATEST AMENDMENT IN PARENTHESES) ai pu C2010ART9 L2016ARTS9&15 (ps) (pun) (os) BOTSWANA L1998(2004)ART4 COMOROS (JS) DRC~ (JS) ps os ESWATINI LESOTHO MALAWI ai pu – 7 !! C2005ART47 L1992ART17 C1993(2018)ART38 ai ~ pu ~ L1960(2017)ART11 (os) MAURITIUS NAMIBIA L1979ART10,13, 20-22 os JS !! MADAGASCAR MOZAMBIQUE Ai !! pu ai !! JS JS/2 (JS) JS* ps pun os os pu !! C1994ART47 L1966(2019)ART18 L1968(1995)ARTS2(2)(B) &22 C2004ART23&24 L1975(1987)ART2 C1990(2010)ART4(1)(D) SEYCHELLES C1993(2011)ARTS1&3 SOUTH AFRICA TANZANIA L2004ARTS8&9 (JS) os C1996(2013)ART28 L1995(2010)ART2 L1995ART5 JS !! ZAMBIA (JS) ZIMBABWE pu – 8 pu – 15 C2016ART35(2) L2016ART16 C2013ART36(3) C / L: constitution / legislation JS: right to nationality based on birth in country alone (with exclusions for children of diplomats & some other categories) JS*: child born in country of parents who are legal residents is attributed citizenship JS/2: child born in country of one parent also born in the country is attributed citizenship ( ): grant is based on an application procedure ~ racial or ethnic discrimination in law !! Conflict between different laws, ambiguity in the law, or the literal meaning of the law and its application in practice Countries indicated in bold blue have particularly weak legal protections against statelessness 89 There is significant overlap between provisions on children of unknown parents or on foundlings; however, in some jurisdictions this protection is restricted to a new-born or very young infant. 25 UNHCR / December, 2020