2- Child who is born out of wedlock in Côte d’Ivoire, except where his
parentage is legally established in respect of his two foreign parents, or one
parent, also a foreigner ».
Article 7 New « An Ivorian is a:
1- Legitimate or legitimated child, born abroad to an Ivorian parent ;
2- Child born out of wedlock abroad whose parentage is legally established in
respect of an Ivorian parent ».
108. As mentioned above, the Commission is of the view that the issue of
nationality in Africa is closely linked to colonial history.25 Generally, in view
of this historical context, the creation of legal nationality in Africa at
independence must necessarily answer at least three basic questions : 1) who
is a « national » ; 2) who is a « foreigner » ; and 3) the parameters for the
determination of nationality without any ambiguity based on the historical
context described above, namely, by taking into account in particular, at the
very least, the register of individuals or homogeneous ethnic groups residing
in the said territory at independence but also the reference date for the
determination of this presence.
109. The jurisprudence of the Commission and international law confirm the
requirements formulated. With regard to its jurisprudence, the Commission is
of the view that unreasonable legal provisions for the acquisition of
nationality are arbitrary and therefore not consistent with the right to
nationality guaranteed by Article 5 of the Charter. In this regard, the
Commission refers particularly to its decision in Legal Resources Foundation
v. Zambia, where it concluded that « To suggest that a Zambian of origin is
the person born and whose parents are born in the geographical area which
later came to be known as the territory of the sovereign State of Zambia can
be arbitrary and its retrospective application cannot be justifiable under the
terms of the Charter ».26 Furthermore, in Modise v. Botswana, the
Commission decided that failure or refusal of a Respondent State to grant
nationality on grounds that the Complainant had obtained another
nationality or had accepted it without showing any proof is a violation of the
right to recognition of legal status.27
110. The Commission notes that in the examples cited above, the legal
definition of nationality is first of all characterized by a specification of the
See also the African Union Commission Delimitation and demarcation of borders in Africa : General
considerations and case studies (2013) 55-56.
26 Legal Resources Foundation v. Zambia Communication 211/98 (2001) AHRLR 84 (ACHPR 2001) para
71.
27 See Modise v. Botswana Communication 97/93 (2000) AHRLR 30 (ACHPR 2000) para 88.
25
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