The Role of Colonialism in Creating and Perpetuating Statelessness in Southern Africa concerted effort to improve registrations, they rose from less than 25% of children under age 5 in 1998 to 95% in 2012. However, this rate declined to under 90% by 2018, coinciding with increased restrictions targeting children born of non-citizen parents.11 The proposed regulations put children born to foreign parents at risk of statelessness. These regulations inaccurately presume that children can have their births registered at an embassy. Children of refugees and asylum seekers cannot approach embassies without jeopardising their status or, in some cases, exposing themselves to actual harm. Even in cases where harm is not a real risk, consular services are difficult to access. Lack of information about procedures, high costs related to travel and documents, or fear of interacting with authorities are additional barriers. The proposed BDRA excludes stateless children from birth certificates altogether as they do not have an embassy to approach. This contradicts the existing citizenship law that claims that stateless children born in South Africa can be recognised as citizens, but only if their births are registered. Orphaned and abandoned children are unlikely to be able to prove a link to a country. The lack of a birth certificate will prevent them from being adopted. Prior to proposing these regulations, South Africa’s birth registration practices were already widely criticised for putting children at risk of statelessness. Human rights advocates have long observed and commented on the significant legal and administrative barriers to birth registration and nationality that perpetuate childhood statelessness for both South Africans and foreigners. These measures form part of a larger immigration policy direction that is prioritising restrictive measures that disproportionately and negatively impact African migrants. The DHA has demonstrated a history of sometimes over-reaching to problematise asylum seekers and low-skilled Africans despite a lack of evidence.12 They shift blame from a department rife with corruption and mismanagement onto foreign-born people who rely on it. These measures come at high financial and human rights costs that seek to distract from the real problems at hand. These restrictive measures are occurring alongside rising xenophobic violence and antagonism. Claassen attributes poverty, relative deprivation, frustration with government, social mobilisation, and resource competition as the root frustrations for community xenophobia and concludes that scapegoating African immigrants leads to aggression.13 (c) Madagascar Madagascar has a sizeable population of Muslims of Indo-Pakistani origin, often referred to as ‘Karana’. Many arrived from pre-partition India in the 19th century Manby op cit note 2. Mbiyozo op cit note 43. Claassen op cit note 39. 11 12 13 87