11. CONCLUSION This report reveals how certain sections of the population in Zimbabwe have been deprived for decades of their rights as citizens. Denied the documentation enabling them access to education, work, health care and other basic rights, hundreds of thousands of people have been rendered stateless, stripped of any legal status in the country where they have raised families and which they regard as home. The government’s failure over many years to remove the administrative obstacles to the enjoyment of these rights, particularly to descendants of migrants who migrated to Zimbabwe before independence and to victims of Gukurahundi and their descendants, has forced people into daily struggles just to live freely. They are restricted from participating in the economy, accessing jobs, opening a bank account, buying a house, opening their own businesses or entering into legally recognizable marriages or family unions. The deprivation of nationality was based on the Citizenship of Zimbabwe Act of 1984 which over the years was amended and used arbitrarily in order to achieve political objectives. It did not conform with international law and therefore did not serve a legitimate purpose. Yet as a direct result, thousands of people targeted and specific groups were rendered stateless or placed at risk of being stateless. To reduce the number of stateless people caused by some of the discriminatory and restrictive practices, Zimbabwe must take steps towards harmonizing the nationality law with the 2013 Constitution. Amnesty International also urges Zimbabwe to enact enabling legislation to give effect to the 2013 Constitution which allows for dual nationality. The government’s interpretation of the 2001 amendment to the Constitution has affected not only actual dual citizens but also anyone with a possible claim to citizenship elsewhere. This law was applied arbitrarily and without adequate notice, consultation and public awareness. Thus, anyone who was of foreign origin and did not comply with the six-month deadline to renounce their presumed or actual foreign nationality was assumed to have forfeited their Zimbabwean citizenship by January 2002. The Constitution gives parliament powers to enact a law that allows dual citizenship only to people born in Zimbabwe.97 This means that any person who is a citizen of Zimbabwe by descent or registration may not enjoy the rights of citizenship of another country. It is only people who are citizens of Zimbabwe because they were born in the country who can claim citizenship of another country. Despite this recognition of dual citizenship, parliament is yet to enact new legislation or amend the current Citizenship of Zimbabwe Act so that it provides for concurrent citizenship of another country for those persons born in Zimbabwe. The people who lost citizenship in 2001 were presumed to be citizens of other countries and were not adequately informed by the government that they needed to renounce their foreign nationality. They became stateless through no fault of their own. Amnesty International welcomes the encouraging step taken by the government in January 2019 to reduce birth registration fees for people who are Zimbabwean by descent. The organization urges the government to build on such positive moves and take urgent steps to create the climate and the means by which people are able to claim the legal status to which they are entitled. Only by eradicating statelessness will citizens be released from the grim cycle of poverty, inequality and marginalization, and participate fully in the life of the country. 97 Section 42(e) of Zimbabwe Constitution, Amendment No. 20/2013 WE ARE LIKE “STRAY ANIMALS” THOUSANDS LIVING ON THE MARGINS DUE TO STATELESSNESS IN ZIMBABWE Amnesty International 34