N AT I O N A L I N Q U I R Y R E P O R T ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION For Human Dignity Challenges and Issues Faced by Special Interest Groups Image 11 Tongogara Refugees This also affected children of discordant parents where one parent had refugee status but the other was rejected – the children were not issued with a birth certificate. Even in circumstances where the mother has a national identity card, the registration laws applicable to citizens of Zimbabwe where a mother can register her children in her own surname do not apply to refugees. The children have to be jointly registered by both parents. Over one hundred Rwandese who arrived from Rwanda between 1995 and 1998 due to the Rwandan Revolution123 and were affected by the Cessation Clause.124 125However, they highlighted that they were unwilling to return to Rwanda because the circumstances that caused them to flee from the country had not changed and their lives were still at risk should they return. One thousand, five hundred and seventy-six (1,576) Mozambicans came to Tongogara Refugee Camp in December 2016 at the height of tensions between RENAMO and FRELIMO126 in 2013 and 2018. These Mozambicans were treated as asylum seekers as opposed to refugees. The challenge however was that without refugee status, they were not issued with temporary residents permits. Furthermore, they could not acquire national identity documents and their children could not obtain birth certificates and national identity documents. Also known as the Social Revolution or Wind of Destruction which unleashed a period of ethnic violence in Rwanda from 1959 to 1961 between the Hutu and the Tutsi, two of the three ethnic groups in Rwanda. 124 In terms of Article 1C (5) and (6) of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (the “Ceased Circumstances” Clauses). The Cessation Clause is invoked when the circumstances in the country of origin that caused a refugee to flee no longer exist. The cessation clause for Rwandan refugees was declared by the UNHCR on June 30, 2013. That clause nullifies the refugee status for them, leaving them with two options of either repatriation or naturalisation as citizens of the host countries. Accessed at https://www.unhcr.org/rw/returnees on 28/01/2020. 125 The deadline for voluntary repatriation of Rwandese affected by the cessation clause which terminated their refugee status was in 2015 and was extended to December 31, 2017 as agreed between UNHCR, Rwandese government and host countries. 126 Mozambican Political parties 123 40 40