Statelessness in Southern Africa Since independence, southern Africa has seen large outflows of refugees from Angola and Mozambique during their civil wars, as well as from DRC into countries further south. Although the majority of these refugees have now been able to return home, some have remained in the neighbouring countries where they sought refuge. Many of these people, and especially their children, may be at risk of statelessness: they cannot obtain the nationality of the country where they have now established their lives and families, while at the same time they have lost all connection to their country of origin, both in fact and as a matter of legal documentation. The lack of clarity about their nationality status creates perceptions of security risks for the state authorities concerned, while also ensuring that the members of these groups do not feel secure in their place of residence. For example, hundreds of people who fled from Angola to Namibia and have lived in Namibia for decades may not be recognised as citizens of either country.37 Meanwhile, UNHCR is advocating for the naturalisation in Angola of a group of up to 15,000 Congolese refugees originally from Katanga Province who have been in Angola for more than three decades and have achieved “a significant level of socioeconomic integration in the country”.38 Alternatively, refugees returning to their country may find their rights to nationality challenged. Again in the case of Angola, refugees returning from DRC, and their children born in DRC, have in some cases found it difficult to have their nationality recognised.39 Even the internally displaced who never left the country have faced problems in establishing their identity.40 The Angolan Government has now established “11 Commitments for Children”, which include birth registration41, though there are still many difficulties in practice, including for returned refugees and their children. Many returnees are still without any documentation, most importantly the cedula pessoal, or “personal record” that ensures access to schooling for children, and other rights, and is the basis for issue of a passport or identity card. Equally, UNHCR has been engaged in finding legal solutions for children born in the DRC of mixed Angolan and Congolese parentage who have been denied registration as citizens despite nationality legislation granting citizenship of the DRC to a child with one Congolese parent.42 Botswana made a modest move toward granting citizenship to long-standing Angolan refugees in 2006. In a tripartite agreement signed between UNHCR and the governments of Botswana and Angola to facilitate the return of Angolan refugees following the end of the civil war, it was agreed that those refugees not wishing to return to Angola would be processed for residency and citizenship in Botswana.43 In November 2006 it was reported that, after many delays, Botswana President Festus Mogae had approved the grant of citizenship to 183 long-term Angolan refugees resident in Botswana since the 1970s who had not repatriated to Angola.44 In Mozambique, returnees from Zimbabwe and other countries where they have resided for decades are similarly at risk of statelessness. For example, UNHCR has identified hundreds of stateless individuals who were mainly returnees from Zimbabwe and who did not have either their Mozambican or their Zimbabwean citizenship recognized. These persons have difficulties in accessing basic services and are also reported sometimes to be victims of harassment by authorities, especially the police, due to their lack of documentation. Mozambicans still abroad also face problems in establishing their nationality, and UNHCR is assisting the Mozambican authorities in an exercise to identify and provide 37 See, for example, Michael Liswaniso, “Some Opuwo Residents Stateless”, New Era, 9 April 2009. UNHCR, 2011 Regional Operations Profile: Southern Africa, www.unhcr.org/pages/49e45abb6.html, accessed 29 September 2011. 39 See Evaluation of UNHCR’s returnee reintegration programme in Angola, August 2008; Jean-Michel MabekoTali, “« Congolenses », « Congoleses », « Zairenses » : L’immigration centre-africaine et la problématique identitaire angolaise”, in Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch et al, Etre Etranger et Migrant en Afrique au XXe Siecle: Politiques identitaires et modes d’insertion, Vol.1, Paris : Harmattan, 2003, pp.189-206. 40 Human Rights Watch, Struggling through Peace: Return and Resettlement in Angola, August 2003. 41 Steve Felton, “With free birth registration, Angola promotes a child's right to legal identity”, UNICEF, 10 August 2010, available at http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/angola_55501.htmlhttp://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/angola_55501.html accessed 29 September 2011. 42 UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Africa Newsletter, third quarter 2006. 43 See information on Botswana country page of the UNHCR website at http://www.unhcr.org/. 44 “183 Angolan refugees get citizenship,” Government of Botswana Daily News Online, 2 November 2006. 38 10