Niger to accelerate legal ID reforms in bid to eliminate statelessness

The Republic of Niger has taken the firm commitment to speed up reforms aimed at facilitating access to legal identity services.

This follows the launch of the Global Alliance to end Statelessness, an initiative that was rolled out worldwide in October last year as part of the #IBelong campaign, a multistakeholder movement intended to push for inclusion, accountability, and access to legal identity globally.

According to a recent UNHCR news release, Niger launching the initiative nationally means that the government will work to “accelerate national reforms and expand access to civil and nationality documents, thereby helping to prevent the risks associated with statelessness.”

Niger has no stateless people on its territory at the moment, but the UNHCR has warned of the risk of it, given that the country still has individuals with no birth certificates or any other legal proof of citizenship.

It is believed that this newly launched initiative will thus enable the country to strengthen institutional coordination between government agencies, civil society, and development partners in order to provide legal ID, so as to simplify access to several important public and private sector services.

In the wake of the launch, Niger’s Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Keeper of the Seals, Aliou Daouda, said the government is poised to ensuring that everyone enjoys their right to nationality in the country.

“Over the past decade, we have undertaken bold reforms, brought documentation to the most remote communities and taken concrete steps to prevent statelessness. Today, we reaffirm our determination to build a Niger where every person is counted, protected, and fully recognized by the State, as part of our broader process of national refoundation,” Daouda stated.

Through the initiative, local communities will also be educated on the importance of legal ID as a fundamental right which can enable them enjoy other rights such as having access to “education, health care, employment, property, and freedom of movement.”

Genesis of Niger’s spirited fight against statelessness

The government of Niger became serious about addressing the risk of statelessness when a 2014 study in the Diffa region found that more than 80 percent of refugees from Nigeria had no legal identity documents, the UNHCR recalls.

From the time of that discovery, the UN agency says Niger has multiplied efforts at all levels, especially in the past six years, in strengthening birth registration and the issuance of identity documents like birth certificates, nationality certificates, and national identity cards for forcibly displaced persons.

UNHCR Representative in Niger, Olivier Fafa Attidzah, praised the country’s determination in ensuring that everyone possessed a legal identity.

“From legislative reforms to large-scale civil registration campaigns, the country has taken major steps to expand access to documentation for those most vulnerable to statelessness. Through this Alliance, we will strengthen existing good practices and ensure that no one is left behind,” he pledged.

The UNHCR has called on stakeholders in the country “to join the Global Alliance and seize this historic opportunity to make statelessness a thing of the past.”

Niger recently awarded a contract to a Libyan firm to help modernize its national ID system and streamline passport issuance.

Africa’s fight against statelessness

Like Niger, other countries on the continent have taken steps to eliminate statelessness.

In 2024, Cameroon’s parliament approved two bills ,which were eventually enacted by the president, to ratify two UN conventions on the fight against statelessness.

The government said at the time that the move aimed to extend legal ID services to thousands of people at risk of statelessness on its territory, such as in the Bakassi peninsula.

The Cameroon government’s efforts towards ensuring legal identity for all, including forcibly displaced persons, have attracted praise from the UNHCR.

In June, the UN agency also praised the government of Mali for taking similar steps in favour of stateless persons.

Last year, the UNHCR commended African Union members for adopting the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights Relating to the Specific Aspects of the Right to a Nationality and the Eradication of Statelessness in Africa.

The legal instrument seeks to tear down all legal and institutional barriers preventing stateless people and those at risk of statelessness from exercising their right to a nationality.

Article Topics

Africa  |  digital identity  |  identity document  |  identity management  |  legal identity  |  Niger  |  refugee registration  |  SDG 16.9  |  UNHCR