Report on Citizenship Law: The Gambia who participated in the survey strongly agreed that children born in the country of two nonGambian parents should be given Gambian citizenship.37 In its Report submitted to the President along with the Draft Constitution, the Constitution Review Commission (CRC) gave the following reasons for the non-inclusion of automatic citizenship at birth in the Draft: The CRC considered the public opinion to grant automatic citizenship to children born in The Gambia to non-Gambian parents. It recognised, however, that this opinion required further consideration. It was considered important that persons granted automatic citizenship at birth could have huge consequences on national resources which, if not properly managed, could lead to potential socio-economic imbalances. This took into account the fact that The Gambia is currently one of the most densely populated countries in Africa with limited resources, considering the population density increase from 130 persons per sq. km of land area in 2000 to 225 persons per sq. km of land area in 2018. Accordingly, the CRC came to the conclusion that this is a subject that requires further study (which the CRC could not properly do having regard to the timeframe within which it had to carry out its assignment) and therefore recommends that the subject be taken up and considered further by the Government and the National Assembly.38 The CRC, however, considered it important that the issue of children born in The Gambia and currently living in the country should be given special consideration in the granting of citizenship and as a resulted it included section 21 in the Draft. Section 21 of the Draft Constitution provides as follows: An Act of the National Assembly may make provision for – (a) registration as a citizen of The Gambia of a person who, on or before the 31st December, 2019, was born in The Gambia of non-Gambian parents, if the person had, since his or her birth, lived in The Gambia; (b) the acquisition of the citizenship of The Gambia by person who are not eligible to become citizens under the provisions of this Chapter; (c) the renunciation by any person of his or her citizenship of The Gambia; (d) prescribing procedures for the acquisition of citizenship; and (e) generally giving effect to the provisions of this Chapter. 4.2 Status of ‘returnees’ to The Gambia In 2010, former President Yahya Jammeh offered citizenship to all Black African descents in the Diaspora that were willing to resettle in The Gambia.39 This was however made without any legal basis to support it. Since then, more than 100 of them continued to stay in the country 37 Nationwide Public Opinion Poll: The Gambia, International Republican Institute. November 26- 7 December 2019, available at https://www.iri.org/sites/default/files/gmb-19-ns-01-pt_final_forreviewandapproval.pdf. 38 See Report on the Draft Constitution, page 50, paragraph 178, available at https://crc220.org/wpcontent/uploads/2015/12/CRC-FINAL-REPORT-ON-THE-DRAFT-CONSTITUTION.pdf, last accessed on 2 March 2021. 39 The Chronicle. “Gambia- Lured Into return By Yahya Jammeh, Black Africans Dazed With Rejection of Draft Constitution”. October 12, 2020. Available at: https://www.chronicle.gm/gambia-lured-into-return-by-yahyajammeh-black-africans-dazed-with-rejection-of-draft-constitution/. Last accessed 15 October 2020. RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2021/7 - © 2021 Author(s) 11