‘Review laws on citizenship’
The Technical Advisor for Human Rights Advocacy of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Ms Wendy Abbey, has called on the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, to advocate the review of the laws on citizenship.
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According to her, the current laws on citizenship enshrined in the 1992 Constitution of Ghana did not address certain fundamental aspects of the human life cycle which might eventually lead a person into statelessness in the country.
She advised that the review of the current laws of citizenship in Ghana would help prevent the increase of stateless persons in the country.
Ms Abbey revealed that the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) statistics projected that five million people in West Africa are likely to face the risk of being stateless this year.
“A stateless person is someone who is not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law,” she said.
She made that known at a special workshop organised by the UNHCR to create awareness and to sensitise the government to the need to submit to the 1961 Convention Law in Accra.
Causes of Statelessness
Ms Abbey revealed that Ghana’s law on citizenship had certain gaps which caused delay in granting citizenship to foundling persons.
These gaps in the legislation, she said, were of great concern to the country and, therefore, demanded a critical approach to solve the problem of statelessness in the country.
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She explained that it was likely that persons, especially newborn infants, could be deprived of being citizens of the country if they failed to comply with the demand on the law of citizenship.
1961 Convention Law
The Senior Regional Protection Officer of UNHCR, Ms Emmanuelle Mitte, explained that there was the need for Ghana to comply with the 1961 Convention Law.
The law, she said, gave stateless persons the same right as citizens with respect to freedom of religion and education.
She added that without the law, the victims stood the chance of facing problems such as lack of protection and access to other services in the country.
Appeal
These challenges, Ms Mitte said, could result in lack of development, insecurity and open a way for conflict between the government and its citizens.
Ms Mitte, therefore, entreated the government to collaborate with the UNHCR to ratify the 1961 convention law to enhance the living standard of people in the country.
She also appealed to the institutions responsible for registering newborn infants in the rural areas to put in place mechanisms that would help decentralise the process of registering children to prevent statelessness in Ghana.