The legislation, which ends a 1973 ban on twin nationality, is partly as a result of in depth campaigning by Liberians within the diaspora.
Liberia’s president has signed into legislation a invoice that amends the nation’s alien and nationality legislation.
The brand new legislation, signed final Friday, permits twin citizenship by permitting Liberians to carry on to their citizenship after buying a second nationality. Additionally vital is that it permits people to assert Liberian citizenship by means of their moms.
This new legislation is due partially to in depth campaigning by Liberians within the diaspora – particularly in Europe and the Americas – lots of whom have a second citizenship. They'd a prepared ally in President George Weah whose spouse is Jamaican and whose footballer son performs for the US males’s nationwide workforce.
However it additionally appears to be impressed by the Weah administration naming 2022 as a 12 months of return for these within the diaspora, a transfer just like Ghana’s returnee scheme of 2019.
There may be hope that the brand new legislation will assist spur the return of many and foster brotherhood – but in addition enhance tourism.
Of their report, the bicameral parliamentary committee in search of an modification to the previous legislation stated, “Liberia has chosen this 12 months as a interval to re-connect with all individuals of Liberian descent within the diaspora and to welcome all individuals of Negro descent to our nation to take part in its socio-economic growth, to re-discover its cultural heritage and strengthen its values.”
“It's obligatory for these amendments to our Alien and Nationality Legislation to be enacted into legislation if we're to realize the ambition and realise the aspirations now we have set for ourselves in 2022 and past,” the report stated.
Right here’s what you want to know in regards to the new legislation.
What was the citizenship state of affairs earlier than?
- In 1973, Liberia outlawed twin citizenship and banned non-Blacks from buying citizenship. Liberians who acquired one other citizenship would robotically lose their Liberian citizenship.
- The legislation, which Weah has described as “racist” and contradictory to “the definition of Liberia”, was linked to the nation’s historical past of being based by freed slaves from the USA and the Caribbean.
- A 2019 Supreme Court docket judgment held that citizenship is a proper that would not be revoked and not using a trial. This ruling meant that Liberians are actually in a position to preserve their twin citizenship till their Liberian nationality is challenged in courtroom.
- It's believed that a lot of residents, particularly within the elite have secretly had twin passports for years.
Have there been earlier debates on the matter?
- In 2015, a constitutional evaluate committee additionally voted in opposition to twin citizenship. Previous to that, a invoice that sought to permit for twin citizenship failed in 2008.
- In a 2018 Afrobarometer survey, two-thirds of Liberians stated they oppose twin citizenship as a matter of nationwide coverage.
- In 2019, Alvin Teage Jalloh, a Liberian by delivery who turned an American citizen whereas residing within the US, requested journey paperwork to journey to Monrovia however the Liberian Embassy in Washington, DC, rejected his request. He sued the Liberian authorities, and its apex courtroom dominated in his favour – a landmark resolution.
- Analysts argued that the 2019 Supreme Court docket resolution didn't grant twin citizenship to all residents however as an alternative rejected the concept that residents needs to be stripped of their Liberian citizenship in the event that they purchase one other.
- In 2020, regardless of vital campaigning by the federal government for a repeal of the previous legislation, Liberians voted in opposition to permitting twin citizenship in a nationwide referendum.
What are the implications of the brand new legislation?
- Opinions are cut up on twin citizenship, largely as a result of the truth that citizenship is required for land possession and entry to sure jobs. Thus, there's a perception that the previous legislation protected Liberians from financial domination by better-off foreigners.
- A ‘Negro clause’ within the Aliens and Nationality Legislation, stating that solely individuals of black African descent may be residents, was untouched.
- Below the brand new legislation, Liberians who've misplaced their citizenship on account of getting different passports will now be allowed to reclaim their Liberian citizenship.
- Moreover, twin residents will now have the ability to legally personal land and interact in companies below the “Liberianisation Coverage,” which restricted sure jobs to Liberians.
- The brand new legislation may additionally spur a rise in investments from diaspora Liberians now that they'll personal land. Diaspora Liberians play an enormous half in Liberia’s financial system – in keeping with the World Financial institution, private remittances accounted for 11 p.c of the nation’s GDP in 2020.
- Supporters of the previous legislation have argued that twin residents profit from having second citizenships. In 2013, the top of the Liberia airport authority Ellen Corkrum, who was additionally an American citizen, evaded prosecution by fleeing to the US amidst an indictment on corruption costs.
- Addressing this, the brand new legislation restricts twin residents from occupying elective positions and from being governor of the Central Financial institution, finance minister and defence minister. Twin residents in search of to run for workplace should denounce the citizenship of the opposite nation a minimum of a 12 months earlier than the date of the election.
- The brand new legislation additionally grants Liberian citizenship to people with one Liberian dad or mum, ending the discrimination below the prior legislation that denied that proper to kids of a Liberian mom and non-Liberian father.
What have the reactions been?
- There are Liberians that contend that the invoice ought to have finished extra. Robtel Neajai Pailey, a Liberian scholar-activist, informed Al Jazeera that the twin citizenship invoice “advances the aspirations of Liberians overseas with out basically addressing the anxieties of Liberians at dwelling”.
- Pailey, an assistant professor of Worldwide Social and Public Coverage on the London College of Economics, additionally stated it may entrench domination by the elite because it “shields political entrepreneurs from competitors by barring twin residents from elected workplace with out defending the nation from divided loyalties by banning twin residents from holding delicate appointed positions associated to nationwide safety”.
- On Fb, Shiwon Kamara, president of the Union of Liberian Associations within the Americas (ULAA) stated the brand new legislation “is a victory for all Diaspora Liberians”. ULAA has been an enormous campaigner for twin citizenship.
- “We are actually calling on our brothers and sisters within the diaspora …who took up citizenship” to regain their Liberian paperwork, stated Emmanuel S Wettee, Chairman of the All Liberian Convention on Twin Citizenship.
What subsequent?
- Jalloh’s citizenship has additionally stirred up one other controversy as political strain teams have been protesting his appointment earlier this 12 months as head of the authorized division of the Liberian electoral fee. The brand new legislation may put an finish to that debate.
- There have been considerations that the codification of twin citizenship may result in “land grabbing” and financial domination, particularly with the presence of Lebanese and different Asian businessmen within the nation.
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