STATELESSNESS AND CITIZENSHIP IN THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY 4. Nationality administration in practice The administration of nationality law—including the rules establishing the evidence that must be provided to claim nationality from birth; be issued a document recognising nationality, or acquire nationality as an adult—is in practice often as important as the substantive provisions of the law in ensuring respect for the right to a nationality. Where nationality administration is ineffective, corrupt, or discriminatory then the fact that a person actually fulfils the conditions laid down in law to be a citizen or to acquire citizenship may be irrelevant to their ability to claim that right. In some cases, a person may first discover that he or she is not considered to be a national when facing expulsion as a foreigner. It goes without saying that the poor and illiterate are the most vulnerable. Birth registration Although a birth certificate does not usually serve as proof of nationality (there are exceptions, including Rwanda, which provides that a birth certificate is proof of nationality of origin59), the importance of birth registration for the right to acquire a nationality is recognised by the inclusion of both rights within the same article of both the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.60 This significance has been reaffirmed by the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child in a decision criticising Kenya for its failure to ensure respect for both rights.61 Birth registration is critical to establishing in legal terms the place of birth and parental affiliation, which in turn underpins the right to attribution or acquisition of the parents’ nationality or the nationality of the state where the child is born. There is only poor recognition of the critical importance of birth registration in the national laws of the EAC countries. While the laws commonly provide that registration of births is compulsory, none of the constitutions express this in the form of a right for every child—although Uganda’s constitution does provide that “The State shall register every birth, marriage and death occurring in Uganda”.62 Only in South Sudan does the Child Act of 2008 provide that every child has the right to be registered.63 While the Kenyan Citizenship and Immigration Act 2011 provides for the right to a birth certificate, this applies only to citizens and not all children; the Births and Deaths Registration Act enables birth registration to be made compulsory, but does not make it a right.64 The general legal framework for civil registration is still established by laws dating from the 1920s in Kenya and Tanzania, though repeatedly amended: the initial framework of these laws made registration compulsory only for “Europeans and Asiatics”. Universal birth registration in Kenya was only introduced after independence, covering the whole country from 1971; in Tanzania birth registration of Africans began in 1950, and, as in Kenya, was gradually made compulsory across the country after independence. Uganda’s 1904 ordinance (which similarly provided initially for compulsory registration only for “Europeans and Asiatics”) is no longer in force.65 Birth registration was made compulsory for all by the 1970 Births and Deaths 59 Organic Law 2008, Article 25. See also Presidential Order No. 21/01 of 27 May 2009 establishing the procedure for the application and acquisition of Rwandan nationality, and footnote 234. 60 Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 7; African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, Article 6. 61 Kenyan Nubian Children’s case, paragraph 42. 62 Constitution of Uganda 1995, Article 18. 63 Child Act 2008, Section 11 (Laws of Southern Sudan, adopted under the Interim Constitution of Southern Sudan, before the secession). 64 Kenyan Citizenship and Immigration Act 2011, Section 22(1)(g); Births and Deaths Registration Act No. 2 of 1928, as amended (Cap. 149 Laws of Kenya 2012), Section 9. 65 Very unusually among the British territories, the Buganda kingdom also adopted a Law for the Registration of Births and Deaths in 1904, making registration of all births within the kingdom compulsory; similar rules appear to have been adopted in Busago, Bunyoro, Ankole and Toro districts. R. R. Kuczynski, A Demographic Survey of the British Colonial Empire, Vol. II. South Africa High UNHCR / September 2018 25