Pretoria - Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba will today, 30 June 2014, depart for Geneva, Switzerland, to attend the Special Treaty Event Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

The 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness are key legal instruments in the protection of stateless people around the world and in the prevention and reduction of statelessness.  

Although Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “everyone has the right to a nationality”, there are at least 10 million stateless people in dozens of countries around the world.

The main contribution of the 1954 Convention to international law is its definition of a “stateless person” as someone “who is not considered as a national by any state under operation of its law” while the 1961 Convention is the only universal instrument that elaborates clear, detailed and concrete safeguards to ensure a fair and appropriate response to the threat of statelessness.

Accession to the 1961 Convention obliges states to avoid and resolve nationality-related disputes and mobilise international support to promote the prevention and reduction of statelessness. 

South Africa has pledged to accede to the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. The country expresses its commitment to ratify outstanding instruments in the area of human rights and international humanitarian law.

However, it is notable to highlight that South Africa’s domestic legislation already emulates the spirit and letter of the conventions to reduce statelessness. In particular, both the South African Citizenship Act and the Immigration Act provide mechanisms to reduce and/or address the challenges experienced by persons who might be stateless by enabling the registration of birth of all persons born in the Republic.

These mechanisms include providing for the acquisition of citizenship, by way of birth, descent, or naturalization and allowing for Ministerial exemptions to enable persons to reside in the Republic subject to stipulated conditions. Thus, existing South African legislation encourages the registration and documentation of persons who are in the Republic.

In this regard, South Africa hosted the second Conference of African Ministers Responsible for Civil Registration in September 2012 under the theme: “Improving Civil Registration, Institutional and Human Infrastructure”. 

The conference was a result of the African continent's drive to tackle challenges relating to the absence of reliable data – a development giving rise to what has been characterized as the “scandal of invisibility”. This refers to a state in which persons are born and die without leaving a trace in any legal record or official statistics, thereby rendering them unseen and unaccounted for.

Africa’s position that we support as the Republic of South Africa is that a functional, efficient and effective civil registration system will go a long way in eliminating the challenge of statelessness.

Together we can create a better Africa and a better world wherein human rights and dignity for all of humanity will be respected and promoted by all states.

For more information please contact Thabo Mokgola at 071-712-9710.

Issued by Department of Home Affairs