A Study of Statelessness in South Sudan - 2017 2 Causes of Statelessness in South Sudan The risk of statelessness in South Sudan is perpetuated by a variety of legislative, administrative, procedural and contextual factors. This first chapter of the report examines each of these risk factors in more depth, informed by the results of the desk review and the qualitative findings. 2.1 Legislative Factors The 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons defines a stateless person as “a person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law”.13 South Sudan has not acceded to the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons or the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, and is not bound by the minimum standards and safeguards set forth in these Conventions. Neither has South Sudan ratified the African Charter on the Rights and the Welfare of the Child, which provides legal safeguards for childhood statelessness prevention.14 South Sudanese nationality legislation therefore lacks these legal safeguards, and needs to be reformed in order to align with international standards on nationality and prevention of statelessness. The legislative factors that in South Sudan remain inconsistent with elements of these Conventions impose undue restrictions upon access to nationality; domestic implementation of nationality legislation is also haphazard, further compounding the risk of statelessness in South Sudan. However, South Sudan is a signatory of the recent Declaration on the Eradication of Statelessness adopted during the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) Summit in Brazzaville in October 2017, highlighting its commitment to accede to the Conventions and work towards ending statelessness in the country.15 2.1.1 Sudanese Law Following South Sudanese independence, the government of the Republic of the Sudan (hereinafter, Sudan) introduced an amendment to the Nationality Act of Sudan which reads as follows: “Sudanese nationality shall automatically be revoked if the person has acquired, de jure or de facto, the nationality of South Sudan”.16 According to this provision, if someone is deemed to qualify for South Sudanese nationality, even in the absence of a Nationality Certificate, their Sudanese nationality is automatically revoked. Sanderson articulates the effect of the two countries’ nationality laws as follows: “[T]heir combined effect is to strip those individuals with ethnic or familial connections to South Sudan of their Sudanese nationality. Those individuals who are subsequently unable to confirm their citizenship of South Sudan will be rendered de jure stateless while the many who lack effective state protection and remain stranded outside South Sudan are left as de facto stateless”.17 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (1954), see http://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/wp-content/uploads/1954-Convention-relatingto-the-Status-of-Stateless-Persons_ENG.pdf 14 Information on State ratification are available on http://www.acerwc.org/ 15 Declaration of International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) Member States on the Eradication of Statelessness, 16 October 2017, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/59e9cb8c4.html 16 The Sudanese Nationality Act 1994 and Sudanese Nationality Act (Amendment) 2011 (English Translation) [Sudan], 3 May 1994, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/502cc1b92.html (See Sub-section 10 (2) Sudan Nationality Act [amended]). 17 Sanderson, M. (2014), “Key Threats of Statelessness in the Post-Secession Sudanese and South Sudanese Nationality Regimes”, Tilburg Law Review 19, p.243. 13 14