The Pan-African Parliament Permanent Committee on Cooperation, International Relations and Conflict Resolution is pushing for a Model Law for Africa on nationality and statelessness.
The Committee is meeting in Midrand South Africa at the ongoing sitting of Pan-African Parliament Committees which is being held under the African Union theme of 2022 “Building resilience in nutrition on the African continent: Accelerate the human capital, social and economic development.”
The Committee identified gaps in nationality laws where people considered stateless are unable to obtain identity documents or sometimes detained for reasons relating to their statelessness. Such individuals also do not have access to education and health services and are often blocked from getting employment.
In his opening remarks, Hon. Dr. Eng. Sherif El Gabaly, Chairperson of the Committee on Cooperation, International Relations and Conflict Resolution sought to underline the relevance of the proposed Model Law to the missions of the Committee.
"Our Committee is responsible for considering policy issues on international cooperation and international relations on behalf of the Parliament and the African Union (AU). It also deals with conventions and protocols linking the Parliament with regional and international institutions. The issue of statelessness is central to our business and I hope our deliberations will result in a concrete way forward," said Hon. Gabaly.
The PAP has a standing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) signed in 2019. The MoU seeks to resolve major situations of statelessness, preventing new cases of statelessness and protecting stateless populations.
“The PAP has a long standing collaboration with the UNHCR and this engagement to come up with a model law on nationality is drawing on UNHCR’s extensive expertise on statelessness. The model law will provide tools and safeguards against statelessness and offer key guidance to States,” said Hon Aurelien Simplice Kongbelet Zingas, Vice Chairperson of the Committee on Cooperation, International Relations and Conflict Resolution.
Emmanuelle Mitte, Senior Regional Protection Officer for UNHCR, spoke at length on the subject of statelessness at the meeting: “This is not only an African problem but a global one. The problem is also in getting accurate data as a number of countries have no data and no mechanisms to record statelessness. The campaign to end statelessness requires political will hence the engagement at this level with the PAP so that we reform legislation on nationality.”
The Model Law will provide a guide as best practice for States when drafting nationality laws. The development and adoption of this Model Law will be instrumental in preventing Statelessness, thereby enhancing human rights in Africa and contributing to peace and security on the continent.
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