Report on Citizenship Law: Mali The procedures for acquiring or losing nationality by declaration or decree were laid out in Articles 35, 45-52. The 1962 Code provided for the loss of Malian nationality in Article 38 for persons voluntarily acquiring a foreign nationality. The loss of Malian nationality, however, was not automatic for women marrying foreigners.67 Nationality could be deprived by decree under Articles 42-44 for persons with certain ties to foreign states, persons serving in international organisations without permission, or persons having been convicted of serious crimes. Article 19 of the Code prohibited the renunciation of Malian nationality for persons who had not obtained a foreign nationality or who had not satisfied the military requirements of that foreign nationality, where applicable.68 Articles 23-26, however, raised the possibility of statelessness for foreign women married to Malian men whose marriages were later declared void. Such women would automatically acquire Malian nationality upon marriage, possibly triggering the loss of their nationality of birth, but the 1962 Code provided for the subsequent loss of Malian nationality should the marriage later become void. 2.4 The 1995 reforms Widespread economic decline and political unrest led to a coup in 1968. General Moussa Traoré ruled Mali as a military dictatorship until 1991. Few legal reforms were made during this time. During this period, however, Mali acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees the right of every child to acquire a nationality.69 Devastating drought hit Mali in the late 1970s, driving an exodus of refugees, particularly from northern Mali and including many Tuareg. Conflict reignited between the Tuareg and the government in the early 1990s, this time with support from Algeria and Tuareg living abroad.70 In January 1991, the government, represented by Ousmane Coulibaly, army chief of staff, and members of the Tuareg separatist movement signed the Tamanrasset Accords, which were supposed to lead to decentralisation and a power-sharing government in the north.71 The ceasefire failed to hold, and, unable to respond effectively to the crisis, Traoré was overthrown by popular protests in March 1991. A civilian government was elected in 1992, led by Alpha Oumar Konaré of the Alliance for Democracy in Mali (ADEMA). Under the new civilian government, Mali ratified a number of international treaties relevant to the right to a nationality, including the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child72 and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child,73 both of which guaranteed the right of all children to be registered at birth and to acquire a nationality. The new government introduced a host of changes to Malian law, the main purpose of which was to devolve power 67 1962 Code Art. 41. 1962 Code Art. 19. 69 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 16 December 1966, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 999, p. 171, acceded to by Mali 16 July 1972. 70 Pierre Boilley, Les Touaregs Kel Adagh: Indépendances et révoltes: du français au Mali contemporain (Karthala 1999) ; Alessandra Giuffrida, ‘Tuareg Networks: An Integrated Approach to Mobility and Stasis’ in Ines Kohl and Anja Fischer, (eds.) Tuareg Society within a Globalized World : Saharan Life in Transition (Tauris 2010); D. J. Stewart, ‘What’s next for Mali? The Roots of Conflict and Challenges to Stability’ (US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute 2013). 71 Cheich O. Diarrah, Vers La IIIe République Du Mali (L’Harmattan 1991) 72 Ratified 20 September 1990. 73 Ratified 3 June 1998. 68 10 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/11- © 2020 Author(s)