Gaye Sowe and Maria Saine Chapter III of the 1997 Constitution contains the principal provisions on acquisition and loss of Gambian citizenship. In addition, the Nationality and Citizenship Act, now Cap 16:01 of the Laws of The Gambia, has remained in force since 1966. Section 15 of the 1997 Constitution gives the National Assembly the power to make an Act to provide for provisions on how to acquire Gambian citizenship by persons who are not eligible to become citizens, renunciation by any person of his or her citizenship of The Gambia and in general to give effect to the provisions of the Constitution. The Nationality and Citizenship Act makes provision for these in its section 11 (i.e. deprivation of citizenship of citizenship) and in section 13 (i.e. the effects of renunciation or deprivation of citizenship). 3.1 Modes of acquisition The different modes of acquiring citizenship under the Constitution and Laws of The Gambia are: by birth, by descent, by marriage and by naturalisation. Section 8 of the 1997 Constitution provides for continuity of citizenship: all those who were citizens at the date the constitution came into force remain so, with the same status as they held before. 3.1.1 Acquisition at birth: citizenship by birth and by descent Section 9 of the 1997 Constitution provides “every person born in The Gambia after the coming into force of this constitution shall be presumed to be a citizen of The Gambia by birth if at the time of his or her birth, one of his or her parents is a citizen of The Gambia.” Although section 9 is headed “birth”, the ius soli principle of citizenship is not provided for in the current constitution; instead, a ius sanguinis regime is established, without discrimination based on the sex of the parent. Section 10 of the 1997 Constitution deals with the acquisition of citizenship by descent. It caters for people who were not born in The Gambia but whose parents are Gambian citizens. Any person who was born outside the country after the coming into force of the 1997 Constitution is a citizen of The Gambia by descent if at the time of his or her birth, either of his or her parents is a citizen of The Gambia “other than by virtue of this section”. As such, it is important to note that citizenship can only be passed on from one generation to another if born outside of the country. Both Independence Constitution of 1965 and the 1970 Constitution only recognised patrilineal descent. The 1997 Constitution of The Gambia, however, sought to reframe this gendered provision by providing for equal rights of parents to transmit citizenship to their children. However, restriction on transmission to the second generation born outside of the country remains in place. The 1997 constitution included a presumption of citizenship for children found in The Gambia believed to be not less than seven years of age. 17 This was removed by a 2001 amendment.18 17 Draft Constitution of the Second Republic of The Gambia, section 9, available at https://www.lawhubgambia.com/draft-1996-constitition. 18 Constitution of the Republic of The Gambia, 1997 (Amendment) Act, No.6 of 2001. 6 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2021/7 © 2021 Author(s)