News / National
Children should inherit mother's nationality
05 Dec 2014 at 10:22hrs | Views
Governments should formulate laws that allow children to inherit their nationality from their mothers, says Millicent Mutuli, the local United Nations High Commission for Refugees representative.
As a result of patriarchy, woman from a number of countries are not allowed to pass their nationality to their children. In the absence of the father, the children lose their identity and relevant documentation to identify them to a particular nation.
Speaking in an exclusive interview at the launch of a handbook for Parliamentarians titled 'Nationality and Statelessness' in Harare recently, Mutuli said: "The passing of nationality to children is among the most crucial of women's rights. Parliamentarians should facilitate the speedily alignment of laws to do with citizenship with the constitution."
The book launch coincided with the UN's 10 year campaign to end statelessness. Jacob Mudenda, speaker of the national assembly, said Zimbabwe's constitution went a long way towards addressing the issue of statelessness.
According to the constitution, any child younger than 15 seen roaming on the country's streets would be presumed to be Zimbabwean.
"Minors found roaming on the streets are entitled to Zimbabwe identification according to the supreme law of the land," Mudenda said, calling on parliamentarians to put in place legislation that would restore the dignity of children on the street through the provision of shelter and identification.
"As MPs you should push for timeous and speedy issuing of passports and other identification particulars to citizens, as it is a right not privilege to access these documents," Mudenda said.
Stateless people are deprived the right to education, identification and travel documents, cannot vote, cannot register to marry, cannot access health care and can be subjected to detention.
As a result of patriarchy, woman from a number of countries are not allowed to pass their nationality to their children. In the absence of the father, the children lose their identity and relevant documentation to identify them to a particular nation.
Speaking in an exclusive interview at the launch of a handbook for Parliamentarians titled 'Nationality and Statelessness' in Harare recently, Mutuli said: "The passing of nationality to children is among the most crucial of women's rights. Parliamentarians should facilitate the speedily alignment of laws to do with citizenship with the constitution."
The book launch coincided with the UN's 10 year campaign to end statelessness. Jacob Mudenda, speaker of the national assembly, said Zimbabwe's constitution went a long way towards addressing the issue of statelessness.
According to the constitution, any child younger than 15 seen roaming on the country's streets would be presumed to be Zimbabwean.
"Minors found roaming on the streets are entitled to Zimbabwe identification according to the supreme law of the land," Mudenda said, calling on parliamentarians to put in place legislation that would restore the dignity of children on the street through the provision of shelter and identification.
"As MPs you should push for timeous and speedy issuing of passports and other identification particulars to citizens, as it is a right not privilege to access these documents," Mudenda said.
Stateless people are deprived the right to education, identification and travel documents, cannot vote, cannot register to marry, cannot access health care and can be subjected to detention.
Source - zimbabwean
