REFUGEES FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION UNHCR, APRIL 2023 Access to Rwandan nationality Applicable law: Organic Law N° 002/2021.OL of 16/07/2021 governing Rwandan Nationality, supplemented by Ministerial Order N° 007/01 of 23/03/2022 relating to Rwandan Nationality. The 2021 Rwandan nationality code provides that a person is eligible for nationality “of origin”214 if he or she has at least one parent “who is a Rwandan not through acquisition but by virtue of Rwandan ancestry”, supported by corroborating testimony and evidence. 215 Nationality is not attributed in any case by operation of law, but must be applied for. No specific additional conditions are applied to those born outside of Rwanda. The Rwandan family code provides that a civil status document issued by a foreign country “is authoritative in Rwanda except in the case where other documents or data held from abroad or elements drawn from the record itself establish that the record is irregular, falsified or that the facts declared in it do not correspond to reality.” In case of doubt, a court will rule on the validity of the record. 216 214 In the usual civil law terminology in francophone states nationalité d’origine means nationality attributed at birth (or later) by operation of law, distinguished from nationality that is acquired based on an application. It does not have any connotation of ethnic origin. 215 Law N° 002/2021.OL, art. 6. 216 Law No. 32/2016 of 28/08/2016 Governing Persons and the Family, as amended, art. 98. 64