The campaign for constitutional reform had started in the 1990s with the adoption of a “model constitution” by the Citizens’ Coalition for Constitutional Change (4Cs), an NGO campaign created following the restoration of multiparty democracy and the elections of 1992. In 1997, the Government adopted a package of reforms to allow the 1997 elections to go ahead with the participation of opposition parties, including legislation committing to constitutional review.66 Child rights groups had argued strongly throughout the debates on constitutional reform for provisions to protect vulnerable children. Among their concerns was the situation of street children whose parents were not known, and whose Kenyan citizenship therefore could not be established. Kenya has had a national identity card system since before independence; without proof of a parent’s citizenship it is virtually impossible to obtain an identity card, and without such a card it is impossible to operate in the formal economy and exercise many basic rights. An early draft of a proposed new Constitution presented by the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission in 2002 included provisions that every child had the right to a nationality, and that “a child found in Kenya who appears to be less than eight years of age, and whose parents are not known, is presumed to be a citizen of Kenya.” (The draft also provided for adopted children to register as Kenyan citizens).67 The proposed provision drew on international models, especially as applied in Uganda and Ghana,68 to argue that older children and not only babies should benefit from a provision on children of unknown parents.69 This language on unknown children remained in subsequent drafts of a proposed Constitution, and was not controversial, though many other elements of the proposed charter were hotly debated. A version of the Constitution that included many Government-led changes was rejected by Kenyan voters in 2005. In 2009 and 2010 a Committee of Experts sat to consider the Constitution once again. However, when the first draft of the constitution put forward by an Expert Committee was published for comment, the “foundling” provision became the subject of strong opposition, in some cases from those who opposed the draft for other reasons. Some politicians and representatives of certain church-based groups opposed inclusion of the foundling provision, arguing that it would create the opportunity for traffickers to bring children to acquire citizenship in Kenya, notably from Somalia. The Parliamentary Select Committee that reviewed the Committee of Experts’ proposals then amended the proposed text to create the right for foundlings to apply for citizenship rather than to be granted citizenship automatically. However, the Committee restored the automatic attribution of citizenship and overcame objections by adding a provision to the draft text that citizenship could be revoked if an abandoned child’s citizenship elsewhere subsequently came to light.70 Throughout this period, human rights organizations had highlighted the situation of certain ethnic groups who struggled to obtain recognition as Kenyan nationals, despite their lack of meaningful connection to any other state. Of special concern was the discrimination suffered by the Nubians resident in Kibera, Nairobi’s largest informal settlement. Of Sudanese origin, the Nubians had been recruited by the British army, and then settled in Kenya before independence. Litigation was launched on their behalf in Kenya in 2003, before the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR) in 2006, and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) in 2009. 66 Constitution of Kenya Review Act, 1997. See generally, P.L.O. Lumumba, Morris Kiwinda Mbondenyi, and Steve O. Odero, The Constitution of Kenya: Contemporary Readings, LawAfrica Publishing Ltd, 2014. 67 The People’s Choice. The Report of the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission, 18 September 2002, Volume Two, The Draft Bill to amend the Constitution, sections 22 and 37(5). 68 Section 8 of Ghana’s Citizenship Act 2000 declares: “A child of not more than seven years of age found in Ghana whose parents are not known shall be presumed to be a citizen of Ghana by birth.” Section 13(1) of Uganda’s Citizenship and Immigration Control Act, 1999, states: (1) “A child of not more than five years of age found in Uganda whose parents are not known shall be presumed to be a citizen of Uganda by birth.” 69 This is also in line with the recommendation that such provisions should “apply to all young children who are not yet able to communicate accurately information pertaining to the identity of their parents or their place of birth.” See note 3, UNHCR Guidelines on Statelessness No. 4. 70 Final Report of the Committee of Experts on Constitutional Review, 11 October 2010, Sections 5.2.1 and 8.5; interviews with Bobby Mkangi (member of the Committee of Experts) and Tom Kagwe (member of the broader Reference Group), Nairobi, 5 and 6 August 2015. The possibility of revocation was included in Article 17(2). 17 CAMPAIGN TO END STATELESSNESS WITHIN 10 YE ARS