16
Preventing Statelessness Among Migrants and Refugees
Through these programmes Morocco had granted residency permits to around 50,000
people by late 2018.48 As of mid-2017, there were an estimated 95,835 migrants and refugees in Morocco;49 among them 6,779 falling within the mandate of UNHCR, more than
double from 3,048 in 2014.50
The Laws of Sending Countries
All the countries of origin for migrants and refugees considered for this report provide for
transmission of nationality to children born outside the territory without discrimination
based on the sex of the parent, with the exception of Sudan and Syria. A majority provide
that the facts relating to a child’s birth must be recorded through civil and (where the birth
is outside the country) consular registration procedures in order to be legally recognised.51
Syria’s nationality law is based on descent through the father, and establishes some of
the most stringent restrictions of any country in the world on the rights of women to
transmit nationality to their children. Although the law provides for the mother to confer
nationality to a child where the father is not known, this only applies to children born
in Syria.52 Civil status events occurring outside the country must be registered with the
consular authorities, with requirements to show the father’s identity documents, as well
as a marriage certificate.53 Even if the father was Syrian and the mother holds a marriage
certificate, she is only permitted to register a birth if a death certificate is also presented,
creating major barriers to preservation of the child’s future rights in Syria.54
Sudanese nationality law also discriminates on the basis of sex in transmission of nationality, though to a lesser extent: whether born in or outside of Sudan, the child of a Sudanese
father is automatically attributed nationality at birth; whereas the child of a Sudanese
mother must apply for recognition of nationality.55 In relation to children born outside the
country, a birth must be registered by the father within 30 days with the Sudanese mission
in that country, following registration according to the procedures in the country of birth.
intégration au Maroc’, n.d. Available in English and French at http://www.marocainsdumonde.gov.ma/fr/
le-minist%C3%A8re/affaires-de-la-migration/nouvelle-politique-migratoire
48
Badra Berrissoule, ‘Conférence intergouvernementale sur les migrations: Le Maroc donne l’exemple’, L’Economiste (Casablanca), 10 December 2018. Available at https://www.leconomiste.com/
article/1037689-conference-intergouvernementale-sur-les-migrations-le-maroc-donne-l-exemple
49
North Africa Mixed Migration Hub, “Country Brief: Morocco”, March 2018. Available at http://www.
mixedmigrationhub.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Country-Profile-Morocco.pdf; UNDESA, International Migrant Stock: The 2017 Revision, June 2017.
50
UNHCR, “Global Focus: Morocco”. Available at http://reporting.unhcr.org/node/10331; see also Nadia
Bernoussi and Mohamed Benkeroum, “Maroc: Migrations internationales et justice constitutionnelle”,
Annuaire international de justice constitutionnelle Vol. 32, 2016, pp. 421–40. Available at https://www.persee.
fr/doc/aijc_0995-3817_2017_num_32_2016_2529
51
See generally, Manby, Citizenship Laws in Africa; Albarazi, ‘Regional report on citizenship’.
52
Legislative Decree 276 of 1969.
53
‘Civil Documentation and Registration in the Syrian Arab Republic’, UNHCR and Syrian Arab Republic
Ministry of Interior Civil Affairs Directorate, July 2018. Available at https://www.unhcr.org/sy/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/09/Personal-Documentation-En-Jul-2018.pdf
54
Zahra Albarazi and Laura van Waas, ‘Understanding statelessness in the Syria refugee context’, Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion and Norwegian Refugee Council, 2016. See also resources based on
the report , available at http://www.syrianationality.org/
55
Sudanese Nationality Act 1994, as amended 2005, 2011, and 2018, section 4.
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