Today, at least 10 million people are denied a nationality globally, with a third of all stateless people estimated to be children (United Nations1, 2018). The exact number of stateless people is unknown, and they are found throughout the world, with the majority living in Asia. The lawful definition of a stateless person is “a person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law” (General Assembly, 1954). Statelessness can be caused by a variety of reasons; states cease to exist, political considerations dictates changes in citizenship law, discrimination of ethnic groups, groups living in border areas causing states on both sides to deny the group citizenship, personal circumstances and climate change to name a few (Goris, Kohn and Harrington, 2009).
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced in 2014 a plan on how to end statelessness by 2024. The plan proposed 10 actions the international organization, along with individual States, can take. One of the actions is to resolve major existing situations of statelessness (United Nations, 2014). One of the major existing situations can be found in West Africa’s Ivory Coast. The second most populous West African country, is today home to over 700,000 stateless people (Worldometer 2018) (Misah, 2014).
This paper will focus on how the nationality laws in Ivory Coast has left 700,000 people stateless and the impact a person’s stateless status has on their sense of social belonging. First, an overview of what statelessness mean will be presented. Then, a historical background of Ivory Coast will explain why 700,000 people are stateless in the country. Following that, is an analysis of the relationship between nationality law, statelessness and social belonging. Lastly, a brief discussion will be found on what the future looks like for stateless people in Ivory Coast, followed by an overall conclusion. This paper aims to complement current literature on statelessness and the information available on the understanding of how nationality laws in Ivory Coast impact the sense of belonging for the stateless people in the country.
International Law and Statelesness
Although most people acquire a nationality automatically through birth, either through jus soli (by land) or jus sanguinis (by blood), for some people it is not as simple (“jus soli”, 2002) (“jus sanguinis”, 2014). There are some who are born stateless, while others become stateless later in their life. For instance, a mother can be unable to pass her citizenship due to nationality laws in her country, or a State’s nationality laws can change and become discriminatory against a person’s religious or ethnic group. If a person does not acquire a nationality they can become stateless. The importance of a nationality is many, the most basic, is the protection of a person’s rights. When a person does not have a nationality, they are more susceptible to violations of human rights, such as restrictions on freedom of movement. Human rights are considered the moral principles and are rights “inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion or any other status” (United Nations2, 2018).
There are a variety of conventions that take on the issue of statelessness, such as the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. In addition, there are human rights treaties and provisions that distinguish the importance of a nationality, such as the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. In Article 15 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights it is stated that “(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality” and that “(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality” (United Nations, 1948). By this statement alone, statelessness is considered a violation of human rights. Yet, statelessness, is the reality for millions of people globally, and over 700,000 people in Ivory Coast.
Historical Background of Statelessness in Ivory Coast
To understand statelessness in Ivory Coast it is important to understand the historical context of the country. Ivory Coast was colonized by France in 1893 until they became independent in 1960 (Studycountry, 2018). In the 1920s and 30s, French colonists exploited the country’s land and natural resources resulting in thousands of West Africans to resettle into Ivory Coast to work on a variety of plantations, particularly from the country north of Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso. In 1960, the West African country saw its first President, President Felix Houphouët-Boigny. President Houphouët-Boigny promised land for anyone willing to develop it for agriculture, which resulted in a flow of immigrant workers into the country (Aboa, 2013) (CRAI, 2018). Muslims from the north of the country, as well as foreigners, were encouraged to settle in southern Ivory Coast, and these people ended up being the backbone of the explosion of the Ivorian economy in the 1960s and 70s (NoWherePeople1, 2018).
However, the migrants’ Ivorian citizenships were never truly established. The country’s first nationality law came into effect in 1961. The original Ivorian nationality law gave Ivorian nationality to every person born in the country, unless both parents were foreigners. However, who were considered foreigners was not clearly defined, and excluded people with northern descent from citizenship, leaving them stateless. Later, the nationality law was amended in 1972 to strictly grant citizenship through blood, making hundreds of thousands of people stateless (Canada, 2013).
After President Felix Houphouët-Boigny passed in 1993 the new President, Henri Konan Bédié, assumed office after a power struggle between Bédié and Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara, who ended up resigning (Thompson, 2011). As President, Bédié exploited the rising tensions in the country and further challenged citizenship and voting rights of people with northern or Burkina Faso roots. This resulted in people from the south of the country to be considered “true Ivorians”, while people in the north of the country faced discrimination. In 1999, Alassane Ouattara decided to run against President Bédié as his main opposition (Thompson, 2011).
However, a new amendment to the nationality law required high level public office candidates to have both an Ivorian father and mother. Ouattara was a Muslim and he was “mixed”, as not both of his parents were considered Ivorians, thus the new nationality law amendment disqualified him from pursuing a high-profile public office. In addition, the amendment limited voting rights as well for people in the country. President Bédié’s actions created tension in the political setting and split the country along ethnic and religious lines, resulting in two coup d’etat and conflicts, mostly based on differences in religion and ethnicity between southern Christians and northern Muslims. As a result, a few years later the first civil war broke out. Though unity and peace treaties were signed, and the country saw UN involvement, the conflicts in Ivory Coast went on until 2011 (Purefoy, 2011).
In 2010, former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara was elected President. As a result, several reforms of the country’s nationality law took place (NoWherePeople1, 2018). Until 2013, Ivorian nationality was provided purely based on descent, leaving children of migrant or unknown parents stateless and children of stateless people stateless as well (CRAI, 2018). However, President Ouattara’s reforms eased access to citizenship, allowing foreign-born residents, who have lived in Ivory Coast since before 1960, to become citizens along with their descendants (Aboa, 2013). The reforms also allowed foreigners to acquire Ivorian citizenship when marrying Ivorian citizen. The reforms also made it easier to apply for citizenship for people born in Ivory Coast. Nonetheless, the issue is still prevalent with over 700,000 stateless people in the country, caused by years of discrimination based on religion and ethnicity.
The previous information has provided a look into what nationality laws and statelessness mean, as well as the background of Ivory Coast’s political climate. In addition, the information also highlights the impact the Ivorian nationality law has had on the country and even how it has impacted the conflicts in the country. Following, is an analysis that aims to identify how the Ivorian nationality law impacts social belonging for stateless people specifically. The analysis will dive into a variety of impacts seen when a person is stateless, and how it affects them and their sense of social belonging.
For one, citizenship is a legal status. As previously explored, citizenship ensures a person’s human rights and is even a human right on its own. It provides specific social roles and moral qualities for people as well (Martiniello, 2002). An example of this is provided by NoWherePeople. NoWherePeople is an organization that highlights the everyday struggle of stateless people around the world through photography (NoWherePeople2, 2018). NoWherePeople stresses how stateless people in Ivory Coast usually have documents, such as a birth certificate and that the issue for stateless people in Ivory Coast lies in how these documents might not be recognized by official officers, which might even be a result of the officer or office’s personal bias. (NoWherePeople, 2018). Ivory Coast’s nationality law has resulted in the long-term exclusion of generations of migrants and their descendants (UNHCR, 2016). This has created a lack of sense of belonging for the people who have spent their entire life and dedicated their life’s work to a country who does not recognize them.
Second, statelessness brings along the issue of further discrimination of Ivorians of northern descent. One of the ways that stateless people in Ivory Coast are discriminated upon, is when registering their child’s birth. As previously explored, even though some people have documents, they are not recognized. In addition to this, the registration offices tell Ivorians of northern descent to go back to where they came from or some ask them to pay a significant fee to acquire citizenship (NoWherePeople1, 2018). As the fee is too much and the numerous checkpoints make it impossible for them to travel without papers, their children remain unregistered and stateless as well. The terrible discrimination these people face, makes statelessness become inter-generational and creates a long-lasting impact due to a lack of sense of belonging for them and their families.
Third, when a country refuses to provide citizenship to a person, the person is told they are not considered part of their group and is not welcome. This creates an issue of their sense of belonging as people are being told by the Ivorian government that they are unwelcome due to their ethnicity or religion, even though they have spent their entire life there. This further impacts a person’s self-worth. Statelessness can truly diminish a person’s self-worth and create a confused sense of identity, which again can have grave impacts on a person, possibly resulting in long-lasting anxiety and depression (ISI, 2018).
Fourth, as discovered earlier, stateless people face the feeling of being unwelcome and feels a lack of belonging. This is frustrating, but also becomes problematic as the country of their birth might not provide them with a citizenship, yet this is the only country they have ever known. With the restrictions of travelling posed on stateless people, the majority of them have never been outside of their birth country’s borders (NoWherePeople2, 2018). Thus, statelessness creates a lack of sense of belonging to the country they were born in and have spent their entire life in, as well as leaving them without options to leave this country and be granted citizenship in another country even if they wanted to. Yet, as explained by stateless people in Ivory Coast and presented by NoWherePeople “The only country we know is Cote D’Ivoire.” (NoWherePeople1, 2018). This means that a person’s entire life, personal history, family and culture is in a country that does not recognize them as a citizen and who do not provide them with basic human rights. Nationality laws decide who are eligible for citizenship within a country’s border, and citizenship gives a person a national identity, which allows us to understand people who are like us (Bechofoer, 2016). Without citizenship, the sense of social belonging can completely diminish.
Last, a serious concern of stateless people in Ivory Coast is security. As mentioned previously, there are informal checkpoints scattered on most roads and highways with patrollers often scrutinizing identification (NoWherePeople1, 2018). In Ivory Coast, a stateless person might have proof of identity as mentioned, but not a national ID card, which exclude them from a nationality. This can create great anxiety and frustration if asked by officials to present documentation of their identity, as well as a fear of being mistreated. Thus, a stateless person’s security is also of grave concern.
From the five issues highlighted in the analysis, one can understand that the impact of statelessness is wide and that it impacts a person’s life in a variety of ways. As citizenship is a legal status, stateless people are excluded from receiving basic rights. They experience further discrimination, a feeling of being unwelcome, may lack a sense of social belonging and may fear for their own personal security (NoWherePeople1, 2018). What is vital to take away from the analysis presented above, is that citizenship is not just a legal status of the protection of human rights, it also creates a person’s sense of social belonging, self-worth and security. Thus, the lack of a citizenship truly impacts a person’s entire life, both in the long term and on a day-to-day basis. Statelessness, as seen in Ivory Coast, also creates inter-generational statelessness, which further expands the problem.
Although statelessness is a difficult topic, it is vital to know that there are things the global community is doing, and steps regional powers are taking as well. For one, the UNHCR published a plan to end statelessness by 2024 in 2014, along with the creation of a global movement to end the injustice of statelessness, named #IBelong (UNHCR, 2014) (Divers, 2014). Four years after the plan was announced, specific results are unknown, yet it is a step in the right direction. The #IBelong movement is helpful, as it creates awareness of the issue, which also creates a greater momentum for the cause. In 2017, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the UNHCR announced the first ever regional action plan to end statelessness also by 2024 (Guilbert, 2017). How much of an impact it has had so far is not widely known, yet the UNHCR has announced positive results of several local awareness campaigns, that are aimed at informing people of steps they can take to ensure their citizenship, as well as their child’s citizenship (UNHCR, 2017).
With the information provided throughout this paper and the extent of the issue of statelessness, it can be overwhelming and difficult to truly grasp the scope of the issue. Every country that have many stateless people all have different stories to tell, and this paper has aimed at explaining how 700,000 people in Ivory Coast have become stateless, along with how it impacts a person’s sense of social belonging. Ivory Coast’s political history along with massive migration have caused tension in the country due to the array of people’s ethnicity and religion. Regrettably, this has also left hundreds of thousands of people stateless.
Further on, the analysis provided a good understanding of how nationality laws and the lack of citizenship impact a person’s everyday life and their entire life in a variety of ways. From a person’s security to a person’s sense of belonging, statelessness greatly impacts a person’s social identity, which is an important piece to take away from this paper. With nationality laws coming from a top-down approach, it is at times important to remind ourselves that the impact is however, mainly felt from the bottom up. In addition to this, it also often affects marginalized communities.
Ivory Coast’s nationality laws have left 700,000 Ivorians stateless today without social protection and basic rights. Although the region, along with the global community, are taking steps to decrease the number of stateless people, the issue is prevalent and there are hundreds of thousands of Ivorians who have lived too long without basic rights and the protection of their birth country’s government. Nonetheless, as global citizens we can only hope that continuing to raise awareness of the issue and talking about it, will result in fewer stateless people. Although the task is grand, our global community can support those who need it the most.
