Table of Contents
List of Tables ........................................................................................................................................ i
List of Boxes ......................................................................................................................................... i
The fifteen ECOWAS Member States ................................................................................................... i
Methodology and acknowledgements ............................................................................................... ii
Acronyms ........................................................................................................................................... iii
French-English vocabulary list ........................................................................................................... iii
A note on terminology: “nationality” and “citizenship” .................................................................... iv
1.
Summary.............................................................................................................................. 1
2.
West African nationality laws ............................................................................................... 5
2.1.
2.2.
2.3.
2.4.
2.5.
2.6.
3.
Nationality administration in practice ................................................................................. 32
3.1.
3.2.
3.3.
3.4.
4.
The descendants of historical migrants ................................................................................ 44
Contemporary migrants and their children .......................................................................... 49
The situation of migrants “returned” to their country of origin........................................... 52
Refugees, former refugees, and the internally displaced ..................................................... 57
Border populations ............................................................................................................... 66
Populations affected by transfer of territory ........................................................................ 67
Nomadic and pastoralist ethnic groups ................................................................................ 71
Orphans and vulnerable children.......................................................................................... 74
An analysis of the ECOWAS legal and policy framework ....................................................... 81
5.1.
5.2.
5.3.
5.4.
5.5.
5.6.
6.
Civil registration .................................................................................................................... 32
Systems for proof of nationality ........................................................................................... 35
Inaccessibility of naturalisation procedures ......................................................................... 38
Official and unofficial costs ................................................................................................... 42
Populations at risk of statelessness ..................................................................................... 44
4.1.
4.2.
4.3.
4.4.
4.5.
4.6.
4.7.
4.8.
5.
The principles of nationality law ............................................................................................. 5
Pre-colonial and colonial periods............................................................................................ 6
Transition to independence .................................................................................................... 9
Trends since independence .................................................................................................. 11
Constitutional and legislative guarantees of the right to a nationality ................................ 12
Comparative analysis of nationality legislation .................................................................... 14
Freedom of movement, residence and establishment ......................................................... 81
ECOWAS Citizenship.............................................................................................................. 83
ECOWAS and trafficking in persons ...................................................................................... 85
ECOWAS and pastoralism ..................................................................................................... 85
ECOWAS and the African Union ............................................................................................ 86
Implementation of the ECOWAS treaty and protocols in practice ....................................... 86
Conclusions ........................................................................................................................ 88
6.1.
6.2.
When is lack of identity documentation evidence of statelessness? ................................... 88
Law – and law reform – makes a difference ......................................................................... 90