Tigranna Zakaryan Uganda introduced a new constitution in 1995. It was implemented following countrywide consultations led by the ‘Odoki Commission’, a constitutional review commission named after its chair.27 While the 1962 and 1967 constitutions focused on defining citizenship rights for the country’s Asian population, the debates shaping the 1995 Constitution focused on providing a more explicit definition for the citizenship rights of the countries’ many ethnic communities, including addressing the status of African immigrants and refugees. Hence, the 1995 Constitution defined access to citizenship through a more explicit ethnic definition that listed fifty-six groups considered ‘indigenous’ to Uganda. Nine more communities were added by 2005 Constitutional amendments. While ethnic communities such as the Banyarwanda whose status in Uganda fuelled much of the debates shaping access to citizenship in the 1995 framework were included in the list of indigenous communities, attempts by Asians to argue for their inclusion were unsuccessful.28 Thus, Uganda is among a small group of counties whose legal framework is explicitly based on ethnic identity. While the introduction of “indigenous communities” into the 1995 Constitution provided support in protecting some communities from statelessness, it simultaneously created a risk of statelessness among those groups that are not represented among the 56 communities defined by the Constitution. The sections below will outline Uganda’s current citizenship practices both in legal merit and practical approaches. 3. Current Citizenship Regime 3.1. Introduction The current citizenship framework in Uganda is outlined in chapter three of the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda (as amended in 2005) and the 1999 Uganda Citizenship and Immigration Control Act (as last amended in 2009). The Uganda Citizenship Regulations (SI No.63 of 2009) establish the technical procedures for implementation of the law, including those pertaining to the registration of citizenship, adoption of a child, and dual citizenship.29 The 1995 Constitution introduced an ethnic basis for citizenship, under the Third Schedule of the Constitution 30 . While the Constitution provided for those who already possessed Ugandan citizenship to continue doing so (Article 9), it established an entirely new framework for acquisition of citizenship at birth (Article 10). The new framework restored the “jus soli” provision that had been in place for those who were born prior to 1967, but restricted the new provision to those characterised as ‘indigenous’ on the grounds of being a member of a community present in Uganda in 1926 when its original colonial borders were established. One of the major legal gaps in the Constitution and the UCIC is the fact that Uganda’s ‘jus sanguinis’ provision on acquisition of citizenship from a parent does not extend citizenship to 27 Manby, Bronwen. Struggles For Citizenship in Africa. London: Zed, 2009. Ibid. 29 The Uganda Citizenship Regulations, 2009. Citizenship Rights in Africa Initiative. http://citizenshiprightsafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Uganda-Citizenship-Regulations-2009-draft.pdf (accessed 12 December 2018). 30 Third Schedule, Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, 1995. Uganda Legal Information Institute. https://ulii.org/ug/legislation/consolidated-act/0 (accessed 14 December 2018). 28 6 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/8 - © 2020 Author