REFUGEES FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION UNHCR, APRIL 2023 Birth registration rates improved dramatically over the past decades increasing from 4 percent in 2000/01 to 21 percent in 2006, and 63 percent in 2010, although the rate fell again to 56 percent of children under five from 2010 to 2015. 233 The updating and digitalisation of the civil registration system under the new legal frameworks increased the birth registration rate to 67% in 2017 and 89% in 2020. 234 According to the preliminary results of the 2022 National Population and Housing Census, birth registration rates for children 0-17 years were 94.3%, while birth registration rate for refugees born in Rwanda irrespective of age was 91% as of June 2023. 235 Refugees have access to civil registration services to register birth, marriages, divorces, and deaths occurring in Rwanda and to obtain corresponding civil documentation. Birth registration records the nationality of the parents as well as the nationality of the child. In case of a child born to two foreign parents/refugee if from different nationalities, the parents decide on the nationality of the child recorded in the register.236 Access to Rwandan nationality Applicable law: Organic Law N° 002/2021.OL of 16/07/2021 governing Rwandan Nationality, implemented by Ministerial Order N° 007/01 of 23/03/2022. The Rwandan constitution as revised in 2015 provides that “every Rwandan has the right to Rwandan nationality”,237 rewording a previous general right to a nationality. 238 In 2021 Rwanda adopted a new law on nationality that reformulated the previous nationality regime. The new law does not explicitly state that those who were nationals under the law in effect at the time of its adoption retain their previous status. The implication is that the 2021 nationality code is retroactive. Rwandan nationality is proved by an identity card, passport, birth certificate or “any other official document”.239 In addition, a certificate of Rwandan nationality of origin or by acquisition is issued by the organ in charge of Rwandan nationality following grant of nationality. 240 Nationality “of origin” Article 25 of the Rwandan Constitution, as revised 2015, provides that “All persons of Rwandan origin and their descendants are, upon request, entitled to Rwandan nationality.” The original version of the constitution adopted in 2003 stated that acquisition of nationality was automatic on return to Rwanda241 ; a new nationality code was adopted the following year, and refugees who returned to Rwanda while the 2004 nationality was in force were regarded as having automatically reacquired Rwandan nationality. Those returning to Rwanda after the nationality code of 2008 was adopted have had to go through an 233 Identification for development (ID4D) country diagnostic : Rwanda. Washington, D.C. : World Bank , 2016. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/257581546882856591/Identification -for-development-ID4Dcountry-diagnostic-Rwanda; Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey 2014-15, https://www.dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR316/FR316.pdf, chapter 2.6. 234 “One UN Country Annual Results: Report 2019-2020”, UN Rwanda Country Office, 6 April 2021. https://rwanda.un.org/en/124042-one-un-country-annual-results-report-2019-2020 235 Information supplied by the Rwandan authorities in comments on a draft of this re port, June 2023. 236 Information supplied by the Rwandan authorities in comments on a draft of this report, June 2023. 237 Rwanda Constitution 2003, revised 2015, art. 25. 238 Art. 7 of the 2003 version of the Constitution provided that: ”Every person has a right to nationality.” 239 Law No. 002/2021, art.4. 240 Law No. 002/2021, arts.22 & 27. 241 Article 7 of the 2003 Constitution of Rwanda stated that “Rwandans or their descendants who were deprived of their nationality between 1st November 1959 and 31 December 1994 by reason of acquisition of foreign nationalities automatically reacquire Rwandan nationality if they return to settle in Rwanda.” See discussion in Dusabe, ‘Report on Citizenship Law: Rwanda’. 68