Atuguba et al. documentation to prove they are citizens of any other country. It is thus very likely to find people in the Zongo communities who may be stateless, even if they do not realize it. The likelihood of future generations of stateless persons in the Zongo communities bearing the tag of statelessness becomes reduced when these later generations acquire citizenship of Ghana through other means, such as naturalization, registration following marriage to a Ghanaian citizen, or having one Ghanaian citizen parent. 27 in Ghana before Ghana gained independence from the British. Consequently, they became Ghanaians through the 1957 Constitution of Ghana. They retained this status on the promulgation and coming into force of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana. Others who came into Ghana after independence subsequently became Ghanaians through other means such as naturalization and registration. Documentation proving citizenship of this category of people is necessary to prevent them from becoming stateless or at risk of statelessness. Many state officials and others who render services to citizens of Ghana would Trafficked Persons not believe they are Ghanaians in the absence of docuTrafficked persons usually do not carry any form of mentary proof, due mainly to their skin color. They may identity documentation with them to their destinations. be discriminated against on the grounds of race, name, Even when they do, it is common practice that the trafand other markers. fickers or some other persons in the chain of trafficking have custody of this identity documentation. As a result of abuses and other human rights violations, a trafficked Persons Who Became Stateless as a Result of Gaps person may jettison their identity documentation and in Previous Constitutions flee. Thus, the absence of identity documentation has the Persons who were not citizens of Ghana under the 1960 potential of increasing the risk of statelessness for trafConstitution did not become citizens of Ghana when the ficked persons. 1969 Constitution came into force, unless they subseGhana is a source, transit, and destination country for quently acquired Ghanaian citizenship under the provihuman trafficking, and it experiences both cross-border sions of the 1969 Constitution. If such persons were and intracountry trafficking. Vulnerable persons, espestateless, they continued to remain stateless on the entry cially women and children, are usually the victims of into force of the 1969 Constitution. Descendants of such trafficking. The perpetrators may be relatives of the vicpersons whose parents or grandparents were not citizens tims, intermediaries, or criminal syndicates. The Gulf of Ghana are also stateless unless they subsequently States are the destination for lots of cross-border traffickacquired Ghanaian citizenship in another way. ing. Victims of intracountry trafficking usually do not Under the 1969 Constitution, only a woman could have birth certificates, passports, or other documentation become a citizen of Ghana by registration following establishing their nationality as Ghanaian. marriage to a man who was a citizen of Ghana. In addition, a non-Ghanaian man could lose his nationality by Persons of Lebanese Origins in Ghana virtue of a marriage to a Ghanaian woman. Like persons from the Zongo communities, children of Also, under the 1969 Constitution, a person born in or persons of Lebanese origin are at risk mainly because outside Ghana became a citizen of Ghana if either parent Ghana is a jus sanguinis nation, where nationality is was a citizen of Ghana. There was no room for a person by ancestry. The descendants of Lebanese without Gha- to become a citizen of Ghana by virtue of any grandparnaian nationality will typically not be Ghanaians. Even ent being a citizen of Ghana. The 1979 Constitution for those who may have acquired citizenship of Ghana, bridged this gap by providing for the acquisition of Ghathe discriminatory practices of certain institutions of the naian citizenship if any parent or grandparent is or was a state based on skin color, race, and names may subject citizen of Ghana. This provision increased the opportumembers of this group to the consequences of nity for an otherwise ineligible category of persons to statelessness. acquire citizenship. We observed that there are many with Lebanese There was no provision in the 1969 Constitution conancestry in Ghana, and the reason for their presence in ferring citizenship on adopted children, nor were there Ghana is mainly economic. Some of these people were any such provisions in the 1960 or 1957 Constitutions.