Denial of citizenship to black-Mauritanians 45. Mauritania is still in the process of repatriating ‘Black Mauritanians’ who were rendered stateless following an inter-communal conflict in Mauritania in 1989. At the time, the government arbitrarily denationalised over 60,000 'Black Mauritanians', leaving them stateless, and simultaneously expelled them from the country.26 46. In 2008, with the support of the UNHCR the government began the formal process of repatriation, and in 2011 launched a nationwide census to register the population in a biometric database, systematize national ID cards, and finalize electoral lists. However, the requirements for registration are relatively onerous and require those being registered to have available documentation including a national ID card, their parents' national ID numbers, and either a passport or an old birth certificate. Furthermore, two years into the registration process, the authorities announced that in order to register children, parents would have to supply a copy of their marriage certificates.27 This leads to further exclusion from registration processes for former slaves and returnees who cannot provide such documentation. 47. The confiscation or loss of identity documents has made it especially problematic for returnee Black-Mauritanians to enjoy full citizenship rights. There have been reports of returnees being denied identity cards and still not being recognised as nationals in Mauritania, despite the repatriation process. Some cases of statelessness may therefore persist amongst this population, and create inter-generational risks of statelessness.28 Both UN special rapporteurs on racism and extreme poverty have described the ongoing registration process as discriminatory against the Haratines and Black-Mauritanians.29 48. Furthermore, the changes made with regard to late birth registration as set out in Article 58, referred to above, have made it more difficult for returnees to establish their Mauritanian nationality; but also for those without documented Mauritanian ancestry which trace back to before independence - primarily those in poor and rural communities. While the lack of birth registration is not synonymous to statelessness, it is often a prerequisite to acquire a nationality. 49. There have been cases documented where black Mauritanians were victims of humiliating and discriminatory treatment in registration centres. Some with civil status or identity documents were rejected on the pretext that they had foreign-sounding names and were therefore accused of being born abroad. Others were accused of belonging to non-officially recognised ethnic groups, despite the fact that the concerned persons spoke one of the languages officially recognised by the nationality code of 1961. Other reports have indicated that black Mauritanians are the only group asked to prove their Mauritanian nationality by speaking Arabic (which is not their mother tongue) or by reciting sections of the Koran. Some black Mauritanians were informed that if their father was born in Senegal or Mali, or if they themselves were born outside the country, they would be automatically excluded from registration, contradictory to the Nationality Code and further undermining their Mauritanian mother’s nationality rights. 26 https://files.institutesi.org/worldsstateless.pdf Ibid. 28 Ibid. 29 https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/02/12/ethnicity-discrimination-and-other-red-lines/repression-human-rights-defenders. 27 10