The categories of people at risk of statelessness in the Horn of Africa are not dissimilar to those in other parts of the African continent. The first category is the most widely dispersed; that of vulnerable children, and the adults they become. Those falling in this category include orphans, abandoned infants, children of foreign or absent fathers (where gender discrimination exists in fact or law), children being cared for by foster families, street children, those trafficked across borders, and other children separated from their parents, especially at a young age. Other groups at risk of statelessness are cross-border populations, including nomadic and pastoralist communities, as well as those affected by border disputes; long-term refugees and former refugees, and migrants without documentation of another nationality – and especially their descendants; and generally people of mixed ancestry and thus potential dual nationality, but who have no documentation from any state. These groups exist in every country of the region. This report also highlights two particular groups at risk of statelessness: the members of the various minority communities in Somalia; and people of Eritrean descent (or mixed Eritrean-Ethiopian descent) living in Ethiopia.

Bronwen Manby, Citizenship and Statelessness in the Horn of Africa, UNHCR, 2021.