CITIZENSHIP AND STATELESSNESS IN THE MEMBER STATES OF THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY 2020 age to apply to acquire a nationality cannot be seen as an effort on the part of the State Party to comply with its children’s rights obligations.492 In 2018, the African Committee of Experts issued a decision in a complaint against Sudan on behalf of Iman Hassan Benjamin by the African Centre of Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS), Kampala and the People’s Legal Aid Centre (PLACE), Khartoum. Ms Benjamin was the daughter of parents who were both Sudanese before the secession of South Sudan. She was denied a national identity number (and also entry to university) on the grounds that her father, who died before South Sudan attained independence, would have acquired the nationality of South Sudan when the new state was created. The African Committee of Experts found Sudan in violation of its obligations under article 3 of the African Children’s Charter prohibiting discrimination, and articles 6(3) and 6(4) on the right to nationality and prevention of statelessness, as well as article 11 on the right to education.493 The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights The African Court on Human and People’s Rights has affirmed the view of the African Commission that the right to nationality is implied within the protection of legal status under Article 5 of the Charter, and asserted that the prohibition of arbitrary deprivation of nationality under Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is part of customary international law, binding on all states. In both cases, it considered that arbitrary denial of nationality, in case of a person previously recognised as a national, constitutes arbitrary deprivation. In March 2018, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights handed down judgment in the case of Anudo Ochieng Anudo v. Tanzania. The Court found Tanzania to be in violation of numerous human rights obligations, especially in relation to the application of due process of law. It ruled that Tanzania had unlawfully rendered Anudo stateless, by confiscating his passport and expelling him to Kenya, and that: [S]ince the Respondent State is contesting the Applicant's nationality held since his birth on the basis of legal documents established by the Respondent State itself, the burden is on the Respondent state to prove the contrary.494 In relation to provisions in the Citizenship Act excluding court review, it decided that: The Court notes further that the Tanzanian Citizenship Act contains gaps in as much as it does not allow citizens by birth to exercise judicial remedy where their nationality is challenged as required by international law. It is the opinion of the Court that the Respondent State has the obligation to fill the said gaps.495 492 Kenyan Nubian Children’s case, paragraph 42. 493 African Centre of Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) and People’s Legal Aid Centre (PLACE) v. the Government of Republic of Sudan, Comm. 005/Com/001/2015, African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, 2018. See also “ACJPS/PLACE submit complaint to the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACEWRC)”, International Refugee Rights Initiative and Citizenship Rights in Africa Initiative newsletter, 20 October 2015. 494 Anudo Ochieng Anudo v. United Republic of Tanzania, App. No. 012/2015, African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights, Judgment of 22 March 2018, para. 80. For commentary, see Bronwen Manby, “Case Note: Anudo Ochieng Anudo v Tanzania (Judgment) (African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, App No 012/2015, 22 March 2018)”, Statelessness and Citizenship Review 1, no. 1 (2019): 170–176. 495 Ibid., paras. 115 and 116. UNHCR / December, 2020 111