The Phenomenon of Statelessness and the Human Rights Discourse in 21st Century Africa: a Comparative Assessment of Kenya and Cote D’ivoire Experiences

Abstract

The rising cases of stateless population worldwide and on the African continent particularly in the 21st century is a cause of concern within the international system. The phenomenon of statelessness is reported to be scattered throughout the world and has long been infringing on people’s rights to decency and justice. Despite the many awareness programs aimed at eradicating statelessness both globally and on the African continent, statelessness in the present century has proved to be an on-going challenge with varying causes ranging from illegal immigration, failure by some countries to relinquish past colonial laws, discrimination and technical and administrative challenges. However, despite these, the international community has shown renewed interest and commitment to end statelessness. On the African continent, statistics from UNHCR show that statelessness is found in many African countries and has proved to be a substantial challenge of human rights violations on the continent. UNHCR further states that the information it has acquired on statelessness in Africa shows that statelessness is more pronounced in Cote d’Ivoire and Kenya, with approximately 700 000 and 18 000 stateless populations respectively. While the Governments of Kenya and Cote d’Ivoire have demonstrated efforts to bring to an end the phenomenon of statelessness in their respective countries, the challenge of statelessness in the two countries is still acute. Nonetheless, the Governments of the two countries have over the years demonstrated concern and political will to bring to an end the challenge of statelessness, thus giving some hope to the stateless populations in the countries. Challenges faced by stateless people in Kenya and Cote d’Ivoire were seen to be more or less similar, however, the degree at which the two countries have committed themselves to put an end to the phenomenon of statelessness has not been the same. The study used both qualitative and quantitative methodology. Primary data was collected using online and telephone interviews and questionnaires were transmitted and received through emails. The study established that even though there had been renewed efforts in the fight against statelessness in the 21st century, there is still a significant number of stateless population on the continent whose plight needs urgent attention. The findings further showed that Kenya’s level of commitment to end statelessness was more enhanced than that of Cote d’Ivoire. However, it was observed that while Kenya and Cote d’Ivoire had made efforts to reform their Constitutions, there were still some gaps in the two countries’ laws and policies as well as technical and administrative glitches which needed attention for the two countries to effectively end statelessness. Key recommendations made by the researcher include abolishing colonial era laws which are discriminatory and give rise to statelessness in the world, particularly in Africa. Regarding nationality and birth registration in Africa, where the challenge is reported to be more pronounced, there is need for the African countries to enhance birth registration so as to protect populations from statelessness. The study also recommends that both the Governments of Kenya and Cote d’Ivoire enhance collaboration with UNHCR and relevant stakeholders to ensure that the fundamental rights of stateless people in their countries are safeguarded as this help to reduce disgruntlement and resentment amongst stateless populations which can trigger instability in the two countries and on the continent in general.