discrimination and grants nationality to children who would otherwise be stateless; Sierra Leone (2017) and Madagascar (2017) amended laws to remove gender discrimination. But most states have nationality laws with gender or ethnic biases.28 Gaps are stark: per UNHCR, half of African countries provide no guaranteed citizenship to children born on their soil if they cannot get it by parentage.29 In summary, Africa's legal landscape is a patchwork. Where national laws are absent or inadequate, states often default to applying the 1951/1967 Conventions (if parties) or the 1969 OAU Convention by principle. This uneven legal coverage creates vulnerabilities: refugees or displaced persons in "legal limbo" (or stateless persons without rights) face heightened risk of exploitation and marginalization. 3. Institutional Actors and Coordination Multiple international and regional actors operate in Africa's migration-displacement arena. UNHCR leads refugee and statelessness protection: it registers asylum-seekers, assists with camp management or urban support, and advocates legal reform (e.g., gender-equal nationality laws). UNHCR also monitors statelessness through its Global Data Service, and launches identification and legal aid campaigns (e.g., the #IBelong statelessness campaign).30 IOM (UN Migration Agency) focuses on migration management (border control, mobility schemes) but increasingly engages with forced displacement, climate migration, and returns. A recent UN Global Compact on Migration gave IOM a formal global leadership role, overlapping UNHCR's refugee mandate in mixed flows. Coordination between UNHCR and IOM can be challenging: for instance, who provides humanitarian assistance to IDPs or climate-displaced populations is not always clear, leading to "institutional turf" disputes. Within the African Union, the Department of Political Affairs and the Peace and Security Council address displacement as a peace-security issue. The AU Commission's Social Affairs Directorate engages on refugees/migrants, and the Special Rapporteur on Refugees, AsylumSeekers and IDPs provides monitoring and recommendations. However, AU implementation capacity is limited by political sensitivities: member states may resist AU pressure on migration issues due to sovereignty concerns. Regional Economic Communities (RECs) play a role. ECOWAS and SADC have freemovement frameworks and have sometimes mobilized regionally for refugee crises. IGAD has hosted refugee summits and created a Somali refugee framework. The East African Community (EAC) has drafted common refugee legislation to harmonize practices. However, RECs often lack dedicated institutional capacity or funding specifically for forced migration. Coordination challenges include mandate overlap between IOM and UNHCR in mixed migration or climate displacement; governments prioritizing national security over refugee 28 Stateless Hub, "Africa Region Overview" (n 8); Bronwen Manby, "Nationality, Migration and Statelessness in West Africa: A Study for UNHCR and IOM" (June 2015), https://www.unhcr.org/54d5f5f89.pdf. 29 UNHCR, "Ending Statelessness" (referencing UNHCR Global Action Plan to End Statelessness 2014– 2024) cited in USA for UNHCR, "Five Things to Know About Statelessness" (n 15); Stateless Hub, "Africa Region Overview" (n 8). 30 UNHCR, "#IBelong Campaign to End Statelessness" (n 24).