birth registration pose challenges.
21. Foundlings are not protected by national laws, which includes the lack of a provision
ensuring foundlings’ right to nationality. As a result, foundlings in Tanzania are at risk of
becoming stateless because the law confers a discretionary power to the minister to
decide on the naturalisation of any minor in Tanzania.
22. The Kamba community in Holili, Kilimanjaro near the border of Tanzania and Kenya are
at risk of statelessness as they are considered immigrants from Kenya by the Tanzanian
authorities. During post-colonial times, with the rise of independent states, new borders
were drawn and the community was divided between Tanzania and Kenya. As a result,
the Kamba are at risk of being victims to inter-generational statelessness and subject to
protracted situations of marginalisation and human rights violations.
23. The Makonde community in Zanzibar, who originate from Mozambique, migrated to
Zanzibar around the 1900s to work on clove plantations. They have been in Zanzibar for
many years, and have therefore lost ties with Mozambique. However, they are not
recognized as citizens of Tanzania, although all other nationals who were in Zanzibar
pre-independence were required to register as citizens post-independence. The
nationality laws in Zanzibar excluded people from French and Portuguese colonies as
citizens. As a result, they are at risk of statelessness unless they apply for naturalisation.
Despite the legal opportunity to apply for naturalised citizenship, most of the Makonde
did not naturalise to date, despite the reduced fee of 17% -18%, due to social and
economic marginalisation, coupled with the bureaucratisation of the naturalisation
process.14
24. Also at risk of statelessness are the Comorian community in Zanzibar, affected by the
nationality laws which exclude those from French or Portuguese colonies. The two
islands have had close ties dating back to pre-colonial times. Zanzibar and the Comoros
Islands are 400 miles apart, and during the colonial period trading vessels regularly made
the journey between the two islands. The Sultans of Zanzibar shared common
membership of sharif patrilineages with the Comorian aristocracy, and such kinship links
made it easy for Comorian sharifs to trade and settle in Zanzibar since the 1800s,
creating movements between the two islands. Post-independence, Comorians were at
risk of statelessness due to the nationality law, and have to apply to be naturalised,
which is difficult to access, as outlined above.
National Laws
25. Nationality in Tanzania is governed by the 1995 Tanzania Citizenship Act (TCA) (Cap 357
R.E.2002). The TCA provides that there are three ways of acquiring citizenship: by birth,
by descent, and by naturalisation. There are no safeguards in place that guarantee the
right to a nationality for all otherwise stateless people in the territory. Also, there is no
legal framework in place to protect the rights of stateless people or people at risk of
statelessness in Tanzania. However, the below provisions set out different grounds to
acquire Tanzanian nationality.
14
GLOBALCIT, ‘Report on Citizenship Law: Tanzania’ (April 2020).
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