However, these documents do not address the issue of nationality of the pastoralists themselves — and are rather focused on facilitating the conflict-free movement of the livestock rather than the people concerned. There are also many criticisms of their operation in practice.298 5.5. ECOWAS and the African Union The ECOWAS policies on migration and free movement must be seen within the context of the African Union policy frameworks on migration, including most importantly the African Common Position on Migration and Development, and the Migration Policy Framework (both adopted in 2006).299 The Migration Policy Framework included among many other recommendations that AU Member States should “incorporate key guidelines as recommended in the 1954 and 1961 Statelessness Conventions”, and “develop national legislative and policy frameworks to counter statelessness, particularly in cases of long-term residents, by reforming citizenship legislation and/or granting rights similar to those enjoyed by foreigners residing in the country.”300 The AU’s principal human rights bodies have also recently focused on the right to a nationality. In 2014, the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child adopted a General Comment on Article 6 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, which provides for the right of every child to a name, to registration and birth, and to a nationality. The General Comment paragraphs on nationality, extracted in the annexes to this paper, provide detailed guidance on minimum standards required in nationality laws and policies. In 2013 and 2014, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights adopted resolutions on the right to a nationality, also reproduced in the annexes, and decided to move towards the drafting of a Protocol on the Right to a Nationality to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (see annexes 8.1 and 8.2). 5.6. Implementation of the ECOWAS treaty and protocols in practice Only the first phase of the ECOWAS framework for regional integration – visa-free entry for 90 days – has been fully implemented, although there has been progress in the partial implementation of many other commitments. National laws and policies very often do not conform with the ECOWAS protocols, even when they have been adopted to implement commitments under the protocols. Among the challenges noted as of 2009 were that: “two of the 15 member states have not ratified the supplementary protocol on the right of residence and the right of establishment; regional travel documents have not been distributed in half the countries; and in most countries West African passports are not available; harassments at border control posts continues and racketeering has increased on international routes.”301 Among the difficulties in implementing the ECOWAS migration regime is that the labour market in the region is largely informal: the ECOWAS texts are based on the assumption that people moving for work will be employed in the formal sector and will thus obtain work permits and other documentation 298 Livestock and regional market in the Sahel and West Africa: Potentials and challenges, OECD Sahel and West Africa Club and ECOWAS, 2008. 299 For a summary of developments at the AU, see Henrike Klavert, “African Union frameworks for migration: current issues and questions for the future”, Discussion Paper 108, ECDPM, June 2011. 300 Migration Policy Framework for Africa, EX.CL/276 (IX), AU Executive Council, Ninth Ordinary Session, 25 – 29 June 2006, Banjul, The Gambia, Paragraph 3.7. 301 Ouedraogo, 2009. 86