Civil Society advocates constitutional reforms to end statelessness
NAN-H-36
Statelessness
By Lizzy Okoji
Abuja, Feb. 3, 2017 (NAN) The West African Civil Society Forum (WACSOF), says that many Nigerians are at risk of been stateless as a result of some laws that encourage discriminatory practices, especially against women and children.
Mr Auwal Musa (Rafsajani), Acting Secretary General of the West African Civil Society Forum (WACSOF), made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) On Friday in Abuja.
The secretary called on the National Assembly to reform and implement requisite laws to end statelessness in Nigeria.
“We have to address the root causes of statelessness which ranges from inefficient birth registration process, naturalisation processes, indigene registration, amongst others.
“On the legal basis, our laws should not encourage discriminative practices that would promote statelessness amongst citizens.
“We should also engage communities not to discriminate against each other because one cannot be in a place for certain years where you were born, brought up, lived peacefully, pay taxes, and be referred to as a non-indigene.
“ We want to see how the promotion and protection of the rights of Nigerians is strictly adhered to.
“We want to see the abolition of some of these evil practices in some communities.
“We want to see that in our laws and legal documents, there are no projections or promotion of these practices, therefore, eliminating the tendencies that will give room for statelessness.
“ If these are addressed, it is a step ahead to eradicating statelessness’’, Rafsajani said.
He said that there should be clarity in the provisions of the constitution on the benefits of a married woman to a man of another state within Nigeria.
He explained that a Nigerian woman, who is married to a man from another state, should have the right to enjoy every social, economic, and political benefit from the state of her husband.
He also urged the National Identity Management Commission, National Population Commission and relevant stakeholders to ensure the registration of Nigerian citizens, especially at birth.
Rafsajani said that WACSOF has been able to establish the problems of stateless persons in Nigeria by conducting a very robust and rigorous research to understand their problems and also to come up with possible solutions.
He said the Forum have further conducted training for Civil Societies and the media on how they can help advocate for policy and constitutional reforms to ending statelessness in Nigeria.
He urged the Nigerian government to domesticate and implement the 1954 and 1961 conventions on statelessness in line with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) target to eradicate statelessness by 2024.
NAN reports that the UNHCR’s 1954 convention seeks to ensure the protection of stateless persons while the 1961 convention aims to reduce and prevent statelessness.
Commemorating the 60th anniversary of the 1954 convention the UNHCR on Nov. 4, 2014, launched a ten-year global campaign tagged “I belong’’ to eradicate statelessness by 2024. (NAN)
LIZ/AFA
Edited by Felix Ajide