AHMR African Human Mobility Review - Volume 11 No 2, MAY-AUGUST 2025 Statelessness also results from the arbitrary deprivation and denial of nationality, as is the case when a person who has been deprived of their nationality is not eligible to acquire another nationality or does not possess another nationality (Manby, 2009). In the case of Modise v. Botswana (1997), the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (hereafter “ACHPR”) held that Article 5 of the African Charter – which guarantees the right to dignity and recognition of legal status – finds application in matters where the government deprived persons of their nationality, which results in them being stateless. The ACHPR reinforced this decision in the case of Amnesty International v. Zambia (2000). Additionally, statelessness can result from processes of political restructuring, particularly those that involve racist or xenophobic campaigns by states. In Côte d’Ivoire, persons eligible for Ivorian citizenship who had migrated to Côte d’Ivoire had their right to citizenship revoked as a part of the Government’s campaign to achieve ethnic purity (AU, 2015). Decolonization has also strongly influenced many people's nationality and is responsible for statelessness or leaving persons with a disputed claim to citizenship in various parts of the world. Many new nations were created when states gained independence from colonial empires. During the process of enacting new legal frameworks, governments had the liberty of determining who they considered as citizens. In the process, certain groups were privileged more than others depending on religious, ethnic, or historical considerations. A lack of provisions for nomadic and cross-border populations whose identities did not fall squarely within the new borders has also led to statelessness (Mbiyozo, 2022). Statelessness can occur through legal gaps in citizenship laws. For example, where no provision is made for foundlings or poor civil registry systems that lead to a lack of birth registration (Manby, 2009). In 2011, the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (hereafter “ACERWC”) made a groundbreaking decision when the Kenyan government’s refusal to grant citizenship to children of Nubian descent was challenged. In OBO Children of Nubian Descent in Kenya v. Kenya (2011), it was argued that this denial resulted in the gross violation of their human rights and a violation of Article 6 of the African Children’s Charter. Since independence, Nubian communities had become stateless and Nubian children were deprived of the right to nationality and the documentation that enabled access to education and health care. The ACERWC found that this discrimination was in violation of “African human rights standards” and it used a human rights approach to address the discrimination caused by statelessness. Addressing the major root causes of statelessness entails states and regional bodies playing a central role in legislative, policy, and other reforms. REGIONAL FRAMEWORK ON NATIONALITY IN AFRICA The current African framework on the right to nationality is quite limiting. The 1986 African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (hereafter “African Charter”) is silent on the right to a nationality, but it makes provision for procedural rights in 118