27. In 1982, a new government passed legislation for the restoration of confiscated property, enabling the return of Ugandan Asians.32 The children of Uganda Asians who returned to Uganda, however, have faced challenges regarding citizenship acquisition. 33 Children of those who obtain Ugandan citizenship through registration or naturalisation do not obtain citizenship as part of the same process. Children who are born after the parent acquires citizenship through naturalisation or registration, do not automatically obtain citizenship at birth (Article 19(b) Constitution). Consequently, a number of children of Ugandan Asian “returnees” who have grown up or were born in Uganda do not have Ugandan citizenship or and are at increased risk of statelessness, especially if their parent(s) renounced another citizenship to reacquire Ugandan citizenship prior to the amendment of the UCICA to allow for eligible individuals to possess dual citizenship.34 During the negotiations of the 1995 Constitution, Uganda’s Asian community attempted to advocate for their recognition as an indigenous community. To date, they are not recognised as citizens. 28. The Somalis are not listed as an indigenous community in the Third Schedule of the Constitution. There is a significant number of Somalis in Uganda. Many are refugees but there are also descendants of pre-independence migrants from Somaliland. During the mass registration exercise for national identity cards, Somalis needed to prove that they fulfilled the requirements to acquire citizenship at independence either by birth or by registration or naturalisation.35 Although some were entitled to automatic attribution of citizenship by law, they were rejected in practice preventing their children from enjoying citizenship by descent. Around 307,000 registered Somali refugees have arrived following the collapse of the Somali state in the 1990s.36 Issue II - Statelessness and forced migration 29. Uganda is home to over 1.4 million refugees, and of these, a considerable number are caught in protracted situations unable to return to their countries of origin, sometimes for decades.37 The number of refugees who have lived in protracted exile in Uganda for the past three decades is estimated to be more than 80,000. Among these, are Rwandan Tutsi who fled the genocide, Congolese who fled after the defeat of the Lumumbist rebels, Sudanese refugees prior to the secession of South Sudan. Unable to return due to persecution and other grounds, they have lost their connection with their home countries and do not enjoy nationality rights there. Despite their protracted stay, they have also not been able to acquire Ugandan citizenship.38 30. There is significant political opposition to granting Ugandan citizenship to refugees. This has left many long-term refugees stranded and more vulnerable to statelessness. In June 2012, during an event to commemorate World Refugee Day, Uganda's Minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, announced that the government had set up a committee to discuss the mechanisms for naturalisation of refugees, particularly for long- Uganda Expropriated Properties Act, No. 9 of 1982, Laws of Uganda, Cap. 87. Bronwen Manby, Statelessness and Citizenship in the East African Community. UNHCR, (2018), available at: https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/download/66807. 34 Tigranna Zakaryan, Report on Citizenship Law: Uganda, GLOBALCIT, May 2019, available at: https://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/62485/RSCAS_GLOBALCIT_CR_2019_05.pdf. 35 Ibid. 36 Ibid. N. 33. 37 UNHCR, Inter-Agency Revised Country Refugee Response Plan, August 2020, available at https://reliefweb.int/report/uganda/inter-agency-revised-uganda-country-refugee-response-plan-july-2020-december-2021 38 International Refugee Rights Initiative, The Eligibility for Refugees to Acquire Ugandan Citizenship, (March 2016), available at: http://refugee-rights.org/the-eligibility-for-refugees-to-acquire-ugandan-citizenship/. 32 33 7