avenues for South Africans to access their citizenship; for non-citizens to access their right to a
name and nationality from birth; and the right of stateless persons to acquire nationality.
We have observed a variety of barriers to birth registration and nationality among our clients,
who consist of both South African citizens, unable to access nationality, and foreigners who are
not recognized as nationals in any State. In December 2011, at a UNHCR Ministerial-level
conference in Geneva, South Africa officially pledged to sign and ratify the 1954 Convention
relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of
Statelessness, following internal consultative processes. South Africa is signatory to both the
Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the African Charter on the Rights and
Welfare of the Child (ACRWC).
As such, in drafting these critical regulations, South Africa should aspire to align them with the
provisions of these treaties. The most important of these provisions is the child’s right to be
registered immediately after birth, the right from birth to a name and the right to acquire a
nationality (article 6 of the ACRWC and article 7 of the UNCRC). States Parties are enjoined to
ensure the implementation of these rights, in particular where the child would otherwise be
stateless.
These comments are submitted with the following background documents in mind the
parliamentary debate and presentations on the BDRA and South African Citizenship Act
Amendment Bills and the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) reply to submissions on both
Amendment Bills. These documents indicate government intentions to:
continue to provide citizenship by birth to children born in the Republic who do not have
citizenship or nationality in another country, or who do not have the right to such
citizenship or nationality;
provide citizenship by birth to children born in the Republic to a permanent resident
parent only when they reach age of majority, provided that they have lived in Republic
until that time (as opposed to providing citizenship immediately at birth, as under
previous Act); and
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