Protracted Violence Behind Africa’s “many stateless children”: Archbishop in South Africa

He added that children end up being stateless over a long period of time “because they do not belong or have documents.”

The member of Oblates of Mary Immaculate (O.M.I) further said that “seasonal migrants” also contribute to statelessness of children because the fact that they do not reside in one place or country denies them an opportunity to register the birth of their children.

Human trafficking and forced migration due to climate change are additional contributors to children statelessness, Archbishop Tlhagale is quoted as having said during the April 20 SECAM online conference.

“In some cases, children who are trafficked remain stateless and grow into adulthood without proper documents”, he said, adding that “Climate change often forces families to move, to search for better opportunities.”

The Catholic Church leader who has been at the helm of Johannesburg Archdiocese since June 2003 faulted African countries for neglecting stateless children, saying, “The state has not seen it as its duty to ensure that children are registered at birth.”

“The birth of children is not always registered because people do not know the procedures for registering children, especially in rural areas. And especially because the government has not put safeguards in place that will ensure that children are registered at birth,” he said.

Archbishop Tlhagale lauded members of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo (Scalabrini Sisters – MSCS) and the Missionaries of Charity (Sisters of Charity of Mother Teresa) for providing living facilities for stateless children.

“Scalabrini Sisters and the Sisters of Charity of Mother Teresa take in quite a number of young children and teenagers who are stateless because they are here on their own”, the Local Ordinary of Johannesburg Archdiocese said.

A study that the Scalabrini Institute for Human Mobility in Africa (SIHMA) conducted indicated that “Childhood statelessness is an increasing issue in South Africa. A considerable number of migrant children in South Africa are stateless or at risk of statelessness.”

“Childhood statelessness has a number of pathways … A lack of birth registration, the perpetuation of statelessness from a generation to the next when the children are born of stateless parents, undocumented children not knowing their nationality, and unfair laws preventing children from access to a nationality,” the SIHMA study further indicated.

In a separate study, SIHMA reported that “undocumented children in South Africa fall into a perpetual cycle of statelessness – many children whose parents are asylum seekers become stateless when administrative duties are neglected, or under the law they are unable to register for citizenship.”

“Stateless children are unable to access primary education, write matric examinations or have any form of legal identification. One of the most if not the most essential aspects for acquiring citizenship is having a birth certificate. Without a birth certificate, children become invisible”, the November 2020 report indicated. 

In his presentation during the April 20 SECAM virtual conference, Archbishop Tlhagale acknowledged the role of the Church in accommodating stateless children, saying, “Private schooling has been created by some of the schools here for children without documentation.”

In May last year, Archbishop Tlhagale highlighted the challenge of accessing formal education in South Africa when one is “stateless”. 

In an interview with ACI Africa, he said, “We have been battling in South Africa regarding statelessness, regarding children who are unable to go to school.” 

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The South African Catholic Archbishop explained, “It's okay when you're still at primary school. But once you reach grade twelve, you need an identity document. And those who have not been registered, do not have ID documents, and therefore fall out of the system.”

“It is very unfair for young people at the age of 16, 17, 18, who do not have ID documents as it becomes very difficult for them to go on to higher education or to be employed,” he lamented during the 11 May 2022 interview.

Meanwhile, a couple of years ago, South Africa’s Aliwal Diocese succeeded in having 77 children who had crossed over from the Kingdom of Lesotho legally accepted in South Africa.

“These children were expelled from the local schools and were told to provide the school with birth certificates. Unfortunately, they did not have them,” the Local Ordinary of the South African Catholic Diocese, Bishop Joseph Mary Kizito told ACI Africa in July 2021 interview. 

In the 2 July 2021 interview, the Ugandan-born Bishop who was consecrated in February 2020 recalled his journey with stateless children, saying, “I started reaching out to the children who came to Sterkspruit and in Aliwal North way before I even became Bishop. I realized that the children crossed the porous border in search of food. The Kingdom of Lesotho is relatively peaceful and so, the children were obviously not fleeing violence. They were just running away from poverty.”

“I was still a Priest when I joined other people in the Church to campaign for the recognition of these children. The journey wasn’t easy and it took us four years to have some of the children who had South African fathers accepted in the country. We even went to court armed with very good lawyers to advocate for the rights of these children,” Bishop Kizito told ACI Africa in July 2021.