Bridging the Scholarship Gap on Statelessness in Africa critical services. There is also evidence showing that the impact of the pandemic has forced stateless women to resort to negative coping mechanisms such as the ‘forced commodification of their sexuality’.41 As the direct health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic subside, its long-term effects, including the exacerbated economic inequities that most stateless persons inevitably face in Africa, the issue should not escape the gaze of researchers. Thirdly, like most parts of the world, the African continent has seen a flurry of anti-terrorism legislation in the last decade, some of which does not pass the scrutiny of human rights standards. While laws that propagate for the deprivation of nationality as a counter-terrorism (national security) measure appear to be concentrated in Europe,42 it is also worth monitoring and interrogating developments on the African continent.43 For example, have the African countries whose citizens joined the Islamic State (ISIS) considered such legislative measures? Do continentwide and sub-regional frameworks on counter-terrorism measures contain elements that are aimed at preventing or addressing statelessness? Lastly, the climate emergency that the world faces has been called ‘the biggest issue of our time’. The African continent is severely affected by climate change, and climate-induced migration is taking place throughout the continent, and is disproportionately affecting children and women.44 Challenges around data collection; the lack of consistent understanding of terminology such as the term ‘climate change-induced migration’; the need for international law (including the relevant AU law) to adapt to changing circumstances in the context of climate change; and efforts to ensure that the interpretation and application of domestic laws and policies are ‘fit for purpose’ to prevent and address statelessness in Africa. These are some of the many themes that could benefit from a more rigorous inquiry. 40 V. BEYOND A THEMATIC FOCUS: MAKING THE CIRCLE BIGGER There is no doubt that the issue of statelessness is receiving increasing academic interest. The operative word here is ‘increasing’; in respect of academic scholarship on statelessness within the African continent, what exists is far from adequate, and it appears to be dominated by a few voices and disciplines. Notably, legal scholarship on statelessness is predominant amongst the contributing disciplines. This is somehow understandable, since the very state of ‘being stateless’ is primarily a legal concept. The other ‘usual suspects’ such as political science, sociology, and history have contributed their share – although one is See, for example, Roshni Chakraborty & Jacqueline Bhabha ‘Gender, and COVID-19 in South Asia’ (2021) 23(1) Health and Human Rights Journal at 237–50. 41 Ibid. 42 For example in Austria, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, France, and Belgium. 43 For more details on the issue, see UN Human Rights Council ‘Human rights and arbitrary deprivation of nationality: Report of the Secretary-General’ A/HRC/25/28 9 (2014). 44 See, for example, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) ‘Children’s climate risk index’ (2021); UNICEF ‘The challenges of climate change: Children on the frontline’ (2015); Mo Ibrahim Foundation ‘The road to COP 27: Making Africa’s case in the global climate debate’ (July 2022). 40 13