A Study of Statelessness in South Sudan - 2017 neither residency certificates nor blood group being required by Sections 44 and 45 of the Regulations, as discussed below. Once all documents have been collected, the applicants pay the fees for the issuance of the nationality certificate to the cashier at the DNPI and are interviewed by verification officers, along with their witness, to verify claims and crosscheck information on the application form. If satisfied, the Director then signs the form and applicants have their photo taken by an additional officer. Once the nationality certificate has been issued, the applicant returns to the DNPI to collect it.50 As shown below, the nationality certificate includes personal details, a photo, thumb print, and certificate number. Figure 1. Sample Nationality Certificate certificate requirements – should be regarded as unlawful. Moreover, the Regulations state that the response to an application for a nationality certificate by birth should take no longer than one month after the applicant has presented the complete evidence supporting his/her application51. In practice, FGD participants in both Nimule and Renk, however, report waiting three months or more.52 According to the results of the desk review, morality also features at the heart of the decision made by the issuing officer. In research undertaken by a key scholar of statelessness in South Sudan, an issuing officer alluded to this concept of morality when asked why he approved certain cases: the officer usually answered, “He is a good character”, or “She is not an immoral person”.53 This subjective gauge of morality does not feature in the Nationality Act and Regulations, except in cases of application for nationality by naturalisation, which require the applicant not to have been convicted “of any offence related to honesty and moral turpitude or any other serious offences”.54 DNPI field staff in Nimule understand such serious offences to include “criminal conspiracy and immoral behaviour”.55 In addition to adding morality criteria not defined in the nationality legalisation, the applicants are subject to the arbitrary discretion of the issuing officers processing their application, which goes against the principles of equality before the law enshrined in Article 14 of the Transitional Constitution of South Sudan and in international law.56 Lack of Capacity Most of these processes and requirements conform to the 2011 Nationality Act and Regulations. However, some of the DNPI’s requirements go beyond what is legally stipulated in the legislation; these additional conditions – such as blood group or residency Qualitative interviews with DNPI staff revealed a preoccupying lack of capacity, predominantly attributed to training gaps.57 In Renk, one DNPI staff member reports not having received supplemental training since 2012.58 While some training has been provided to DNPI FGDs in Renk, Nimule, and Aweil. Section 34 of the Regulation. 52 FGD with Male Madi, Acholi, and Other in Nimule; FGD with male Dinka in Renk. 53 Marko, F. D. (2015) “Negotiations and Morality: The Ethnicization of Citizenship in Post-secession South Sudan”, Journal for Eastern African Studies 9(4): 675. 54 See Article 10(1)(e) of the Nationality Act (2011). 55 KII with DNPI Staff in Nimule. 56 South Sudan: The Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan, 2011, 26 February 2013, available at: http://www.refworld.org/ docid/525e88ef4.html 57 KII with DNPI Staff in Juba. 58 KII with State Director of DNPI in Renk. 50 51 20