African Court of Human and People’s Rights Rules Tanzania Violated Citizen’s Rights Concerning Nationality (March 22, 2018) [1]
On March 22, 2018, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) ruled [3] in Anudo v. The United Republic of Tanzania, in its first case concerning the right to nationality, that Tanzania had violated the complainant’s right not to be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality, right not to be arbitrarily expelled, and right to be heard by a judge. Anudo Ochieng Anudo, a Tanzanian national born in the state, argued that he was detained and deported by Tanzanian officials to Kenya in 2012 because they claimed his citizenship documents were fraudulent after he refused to pay a bribe to immigration officers. Once in Kenya, he was detained and arrested for being unlawfully present in the state, and after being deported back to Tanzania he lived in secret as a stateless person near the border for four year. The Court held that the burden is on the state to prove the complainant lacks citizenship if they argue an individual’s documents are fraudulent and that the right not to be expelled arbitrarily requires states to provide an opportunity to contest deportation before a competent authority.