Focus on Statelessness, Zimbabweans

Several items have circulated recently that focus on the work the Lawyers for Human Rights is undertaking on statelessness. This news story from UNHCR describes the case of a stateless man in South Africa who is unable to prove his Zimbabwean nationality and is not eligible for citizenship under South African law. Another UNHCR story reports on a man who grew up in Zimbabwe but fled to South Africa for political reasons, and ended up stateless when Zimbabwe changed its citizenship law. Finally, this blog post by two of the lawyers who work on the aforementioned project elaborates on the problematic situation faced by people who were suddenly denationalized by the change in Zimbabwe's citizenship law.

A few other statelessness-related items include:

• Fear and Statelessness in Mauritania (Open Society Blog, Oct. 2011) [text]
• Guidance Note of the Secretary-General: The United Nations and Statelessness (UN, June 2011) [text]
• The Stubborn Cloak of Legal Invisibility (Statelessness Programme Blog, Oct. 2011) [text]

Another issue that has just arisen for Zimbabwean nationals: After a two-year moratorium, South Africa is prepared to resume deportations of undocumented Zimbabweans who did not apply for legal status under the Zimbabwe Documentation Project (ZDP).

Other recent titles relating to Zimbabwean asylum seekers/refugees include:

• Asylum Found? (This is Zimbabwe Blog, Oct. 2011) [text]
• Right to the Classroom: Educational Barriers for Zimbabweans in South Africa, Migration Policy Series, no. 56 (Southern African Migration Programme, 2011) [text]
• Seeking Asylum: A Case of Zimbabwean Asylum Seekers in Rosettenville, Johannesburg, Dissertation submitted to Faculty of Humanities (University of the Witwatersrand, July 2011) [text]
• Zimbabwean Access to Health Services in South Africa, Migration Policy Series, no. 54 (Southern African Migration Programme, 2011) [text]

Tagged Publications.