Bridging the Scholarship Gap on Statelessness in Africa law, including a person whose nationality cannot be established’.21 The second part of the definition is a new addition that has not found its way into the 1954 Convention, and appears to acknowledge the complexity of establishing whether an individual is not considered as a national under the operation of its law.22 Secondly, the Draft Protocol has embraced the concept of ‘appropriate connection’ instead of ‘genuine link’ for the purpose of determining one’s nationality or statelessness. The concept of ‘appropriate connection’ is broad and can therefore assist in the prevention of statelessness, and is defined as: [a] connection by personal or family life to a State, including a connection by one or more of the following attributes: birth in the relevant State, descent from or adoption or kafala (fostering) by a national of the State, habitual residence in the State, marriage to a national of the State, birth of a person’s parent, child or spouse in the State’s territory, the State being the location of the person’s family life, or, in the context of succession of States, a legal bond to a territorial unit of a predecessor State which has become territory of the successor State. 23 There are also positive initiatives at the sub-regional levels within the continent. One such example is the Abidjan Declaration by the Heads of State of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which displays some level of political will to eradicate statelessness. These efforts point in one direction — that statelessness is receiving more attention. With political will, and evidence-based interventions, such efforts will probably continue to grow. Their impact, however, in preventing and addressing statelessness warrants closer scrutiny. III. WHAT IS IN THE SPECIAL ISSUE? There are very few continent-wide studies on statelessness in Africa. One example is the study by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, entitled: ‘The right to nationality in Africa’.24 A few other examples written by Bronwen Manby include ‘Struggles for Citizenship in Africa’;25 ‘Citizenship and Statelessness in Africa: The Law and Politics of Belonging’;26 ‘Citizenship and Statelessness in Africa: The Law and Politics of Belonging’;27 and ‘Citizenship in Africa: The Law of Belonging’.28 This Special Issue contains articles that focus on statelessness in Africa. The authors approached the problem of statelessness from various perspectives and Ibid. See UNHCR op cit note 3 paras 16 and 17, available at https://www.refworld.org/docid/4f4371b82.html African Union Draft Protocol op cit note 19, Article 1. 24 Study undertaken by the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Internally Displaced Persons, pursuant to Resolution 234 of April 2013 and approved by the Commission at its 55th Ordinary Session (May 2014), available at https://www.refworld.org/docid/54cb3c8f4.html 25 Bronwen Manby Struggles for Citizenship in Africa (2009). 26 Bronwen Manby Citizenship and Statelessness in Africa: The Law and Politics of Belonging (2015). 27 Bronwen Manby Citizenship Law in Africa: A Comparative Study (2016). 28 Bronwen Manby Citizenship in Africa: The Law of Belonging (2018). 21 22 23 7