Proposal could extend legal identity to tens of thousands

The Parliament of Cameroon is examining a bill that will allow the country to accede to two United Nations Conventions relating to the recognition of stateless persons. If it passes into law, stateless people in Cameroon could soon receive legal identity documents.

The bill, which was submitted to members of the National Assembly (the lower chamber of parliament) recently, seeks to authorize the President of the Republic, Pual Biya, to proceed with Cameroon’s accession to the United Nations Conventions relating to the status of stateless persons and on the reduction of statelessness adopted, respectively, on September 28, 1954 and August 30, 1961.

In an explanatory statement, the government said it recognizes the plight and usefulness of these category of persons who have the stateless status largely by no fault of theirs.

“Our country’s accession to these conventions would facilitate the incorporation of duly identified stateless persons into the mass of Cameroonian citizens and help to significantly reduce discrimination against persons who often are only victims of circumstances,” the statement reads.

“This category of persons moreover constitutes a good source of usable human capital,” it adds.

UNHCR estimated there were 120,000 people in Cameroon at risk of stateless status as of 2017.

After the bill has been examined at committee level, it will be presented in plenary where it shall be further scrutinized before being adopted by the chamber. When the National Assembly okays the bill, it shall be sent to the Senate for a similar exercise.