CITIZENSHIP AND STATELESSNESS IN THE HORN OF AFRICA \Y Article 27 for refugees to be issued identity documents. The Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons includes similar provisions (also Articles 25 & 27). Those with no recognised status of any kind in the country (as refugee or legal resident) often struggle to access birth registration for their children, leaving them at significant risk of statelessness, especially if the country of origin of the parents does not accept alternative evidence of the child’s parentage, and of the parents’ nationality. 1% Access to consular services is difficult for refugees and irregular migrants, or those lacking documents from a country of origin, from all of the countries considered in this report. Eritrea creates particular difficulties by its requirement for nationals resident abroad to pay a 2 percent tax on their income before they can access consular services, in addition to any other fees provided.'% Judicial and other oversight of administrative decisions As is usual for former French territories, the nationality code in Djibouti establishes court jurisdiction to hear cases where nationality is contested, and authorises them to issue a certificate of nationality to a person who satisfies specified conditions to establish his or her nationality.'9° High Court proclamation is given the authority to hear provides for an appeal cases to the High regarding nationality.'9’ In Ethiopia the Federal The Eritrean nationality Court against decisions of the secretary of internal affairs related to nationality or of the committee considering deprivation of nationality. The appeal must be lodged within one month after receipt of a written decision, and the decision of the High Court is final.‘%8 No similar provision exists in the Somalia citizenship law of 1962.19 1% See discussions in: Bronwen Manby, ‘Preventing Statelessness among Migrants and Refugees: Birth Registration and Consular Assistance in Egypt and Morocco’, Paper Series (London: LSE Middle East Centre, June 2019), http://eprints.!se.ac.uk/101091/; Bronwen Manby, “Legal Identity for All” and Statelessness: Opportunity and Threat at the Junction of Public and Private International Law’, Statelessness and Citizenship Review 2, no. 2 (2020): 248-71. 1% This requirement has resulted in controversy in several countries, including the Netherlands, where the Ministry of Foreign Affairs commissioned a report on the issue: ‘The 2% Tax for Eritreans in the diaspora: Facts, figures and experiences in seven European Countries’, DSP-groep BV & Tilburg School of Humanities, June 2017 https://www.dsp-groep.eu/projecten/the-2-pct-tax-for-eritreans-in-the-diaspora/. 196 | oj n°003/AN/18/8eme L Portant Code Civil, Livre | (Des personnes), Titre Il, Chapitre V: Contentieux de la nationalité ; VI: Preuve de la nationalité devant les tribunaux judiciaires; and Vil : Des certificats de nationalité. 197 Federal Courts Proclamation No. 25/1996, art.5. 198 Nationality Proclamation No. 21/1992, art.11. 199 As noted above, however, the Somaliland Citizenship Law provides for the courts to issue a certificate of Somaliland citizenship based on the testimony of a clan chief or akil; but it does not state how to contest the opinion of the akil. Somaliland Citizenship Act 2002, sec.3 : “The confirmation of proof of Somaliland citizenship may be obtained by an individual on the production of: a) A declaration relating to the individual made at a court by the Ministry of Internal Affairs registered Akil (clan chief) of the individual’s community. UNHCR — December 2021 b) The form designed for the purpose by the Citizenship Office and signed by the individual.” 47