Article 2 of the ACHPR and Article 6 (g) and (h) of the Protocol to the African Charter on
Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa establish the equal right of
men and women to acquire their partner's nationality. Finally, persons arbitrarily deprived
of nationality are protected by the Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee
Problems in Africa, in addition to the two key international treaties: the 1954 Convention
relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1951 Refugee Convention.
One of the leading cases on nationality in Africa is Malawi African Association and Others v.
Mauritania (2000).134 The case deals with the circumstances surrounding the deprivation of
nationality of Black Mauritanians by the Mauritanian government and it is authority for
States’ obligation to provide reparation for the harm caused by the deprivation of
citizenship. Following years of systematic violations of human rights, ethnic discrimination,
arbitrary deprivation of nationality and forced expulsion to Senegal and Mali, the African
Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights received a series of communications brought on
behalf of those who were expelled.
The Commission held:
126. Evicting Black Mauritanians from their houses and depriving them of their
Mauritanian citizenship constitutes a violation of article 12,1.135 The representative of
the Mauritanian government described the efforts made to ensure the security of all
those who returned to Mauritania after having been expelled. He claimed that all those
who so desired could cross the border, or present themselves to the Mauritanian
Embassy in Dakar and obtain authorisation to return to their village of birth. He
affirmed that his government had established a department responsible for their
resettlement. The Commission adopts the view that while these efforts are laudable,
they do not annul the violation committed by the State.
The Commission further held:
128. The confiscation and looting of the property of black Mauritanians and the
expropriation or destruction of their land and houses before forcing them to go abroad
constitute a violation of the right to property as guaranteed in article 14.136
In its 2000 findings, the Commission recommended that the government of Mauritania:
take diligent measures to replace the national identity documents of those Mauritanian
citizens, which were taken from them at the time of their expulsion and ensure their
Malawi African Association and Others v. Mauritania, African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights,
Comm. Nos. 54/91, 61/91, 98/93, 164/97 à 196/97 and 210/98 (2000).
135 Note that Article 12(1) provides: ‘Every individual shall have the right to freedom of movement and residence
within the borders of the State provided he abides by the law’.
136 Article 14 of the Charter reads as follows:
The right to property shall be guaranteed. It may only be encroached upon in the interest of public need or in the
general interest of the community and in accordance with the provisions of appropriate laws.
134
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