Manny - Age 17 Social workers found Manny in the care of a Portuguese speaking woman who was not his mother and who was neglecting him. He was two years old when he was removed from her care by the Department of Social Development. Since then, there has been no sign of the woman who he was found with. He had no documents and was too young to remember any of the details of where he was born or who his parents were. He may or may not have been born in South Africa and/or to South African parents. Manny has been living at a children’s home in Cape Town his whole life. He remains unregistered, because the Department of Home Affairs believe he is foreign as he was found with a seemingly foreign woman. Manny is now 17 and will soon be regarded as an adult. Manny only knows South Africa and is terrified at the idea of being considered an illegal foreigner once he turns 18. He may be subject to arrest and deportation to a country where he holds no citizenship. Manny is a bright young boy who wants to study and make a life for himself, but his future is unclear and he cannot make plans to be successful, because he is undocumented and stateless. Problem: Section 12 of the BDRA requires the registration of children who are abandoned or orphaned and have not been registered before. However, it is currently only applied to young babies and it requires the Department of Home affairs to register children as foreigners when they are “clearly Caleb – Age 20 foreign”. The Department thinks that Manny is Angolan, because he had a Portuguese speaking caretaker when he was 2 years old. However, there is no proof to that effect and the Angolan embassy has confirmed that he is not considered as such. Manny is therefore stateless. Solution: The BDRA should be amended to specifically include foundlings. These are children whose parentage is unknown, regardless of their age. As supported by the Committee and Article 7 CRC, foundlings should be registered and recognised as South African citizens in terms of section 2(2) of the Citizenship Act which gives citizenship to stateless children. Caleb was born in the DRC. His father fled the may be able to apply for citizenship after 5 years of having permanent residence, but until DRC as a refugee and settled in South Africa with Caleb, where he claimed refugee status. then he will remain stateless. Before his father obtained refugee status in South Africa, he passed away, leaving Caleb Solution: undocumented and unaccompanied. Caleb was placed in a child and youth care centre Address the current gap in the law which where he has been living ever since his father’s allows particularly vulnerable children who death. Caleb has no individual refugee claim. are stateless or at risk of statelessness, to He was very young when he came to South reach adulthood without having accessed Africa with his father. He does not remember South African nationality. In particular, the DRC at all. He cannot establish a claim to make provision for an immigration nationality in the DRC and cannot be returned status and an identifying document for there, because he has no known relatives unaccompanied or separated migrant there. The Children’s Court has placed him children in order to facilitate naturalisation. in the care of a South African foster home, In line with the Committee’s General but neither the SA Citizenship Act, nor the Comment No.6 (2005) on the treatment Immigration Act makes provision for a legal of unaccompanied and separated children status for someone like him. He is stateless outside their country of origin, the in South Africa. Committee recommends state parties to provide birth registration and access to Problem: basic rights, such as health and education, to all stateless children and their families, Caleb’s only hope of obtaining legal status on a state party’s territory, irrespective of and documentation is through section 31(2)(b) their legal status. This may be a first step of the Immigration Act, under which he relies in the possibility to acquire a nationality upon the Minister’s discretion. This status is for children in such circumstances.10 In not widely applied and will only give Caleb accordance with Article 7, the Committee permanent residence and not citizenship. He has urged the States Parties to ensure the implementation of the right of all children to acquire a nationality, as far as possible, in order to prevent statelessness.11 “The days are coming close for me to write my exams and I do not have a plan or anything I can do to write if I do not have ID”