16. The Committee on the Rights of the Child also noted with concern that children do not
derive citizenship through the mother unless the child is born outside of marriage and is
not adopted or claimed by the father. The Committee recommended that Eswatini “take
the necessary legislative measures to ensure that a child can derive nationality not only
from the father, but also from the mother”. The Committee also noted the State’s efforts
to improve birth registration, but remained concerned at the considerable number of
children not registered at birth (or later). The Committee recommended that “in the
light of article 7 of the Convention, the State party strengthen and further develop
measures to ensure that all children born within the national territory are registered by,
inter alia, making birth registration easy and free of charge and introducing mobile units,
especially in rural areas.” The Committee further urged Eswatini to “proceed with the
registration of those children who have thus far not been registered”.9
17. Eswatini made four pledges at the 2019 UNHCR High Level Segment on Statelessness:
I.
II.
III.
IV.
To introduce a provision in nationality law to grant nationality to all children
of unknown origin found in Eswatini territory and those born in Eswatini
territory who would otherwise be stateless by 2024;
To undertake national consultations on gender equality in nationality laws
and initiate the necessary reforms to uphold citizens’ equal ability to confer
nationality on spouses and children by end of 2024;
To establish by 2022 a procedure to determine the status of stateless
migrants in line with the 1954 Convention; and
To undertake and publish a qualitative and quantitative study by 2021 to
better understand the situation of groups and individuals who are stateless
or at risk of statelessness in the territory with a view to finding a solution to
their situation.
Snapshot of Statelessness in Eswatini
18. Statelessness in Eswatini is primarily caused by women’s inability to confer nationality
on their children and spouse on an equal basis with men, and the absence of provisions
to safeguard against statelessness in the nationality law. Low levels of birth registration
also contribute to increased risks of statelessness as being registered at birth and having
a birth certificate are often the first step towards acquiring a nationality.
19. The number of stateless persons in Eswatini is currently unknown, according to UNHCR.
UNHCR figures from 2016 recorded only three stateless persons, who were descendants
of refugees. However, this is not an indication of the reality on the ground. Though not
documented or recorded, there are children who were rendered stateless during the
height of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, when both parents died without having registered
their birth as well as children of Swazi women who were unable to acquire their mother’s
nationality due to gender discrimination in the law, and were unable to access their
father’s nationality for a variety of reasons. There have been cases of children being
unable to access services due to lack of documentation and the Ministry of Home Affairs
has attempted to make special provision which is not standardised or official policy.
9
CRC, ‘Concluding observations: Swaziland’ CRC/C/SWZ/CO/1 (16 October 2006), para. 27.
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