Categories
Amendment to Sierra Leone’s Citizenship Act
The Sierra Leone legislature has amended its Citizenship Act to allow both women and men equal rights in conferring nationality on their children. Prior to this critical reform, the Citizenship Act of 1973 denied the children of Sierra Leonean women who were born abroad the right to acquire citizenship of Sierra Leone. The right was only reserved for children of male citizens. This reform is a critical step towards ending statelessness and an obligation under the international Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).