WHICH CHILD IS A CITIZEN OF THE GAMBIA?
It is important that AfriMAP is advocating for citizenship to be accorded to African children where they are born. Even though they did not mention the situation in the Gambia, it is important to point out that being born in the Gambia does not guarantee citizenship to a child.

All organisations advocating for the rights of the child, in particular, and Human rights in general, must take up this campaign against state-less children. During the review of the draft Constitution Foroyaa did make elaborate analysis on the provision on citizenship. However the opinions are yet to be given the advocacy they deserve.
Section 9 of the Constitution states that: “Every person born in the Gambia after the coming into force of this constitution shall be presumed to be a citizen of the Gambia by birth if at the time of his or her birth, one of his parents is a citizen of the Gambia.”
This means that a child could be born of parents who were born in the Gambia and would not still be classified as a citizen. Why do we say so? The answer is simple. The 1970 constitution makes provision that any body who is born in the Gambia after 1965 would be considered a citizen if one of his parents is a citizen of the Gambia. This means that a person could be born in the Gambia after 1965 and would not be qualified to be a citizen if his or her parents were born in the Gambia of parents who were not born in the Gambia. It follows that his or her own child would also not be qualified to be a citizen if he were to marry some one none of whose parents are citizen of the Gambia.
The Children who falls under such a category are now in the hundreds of thousands. There is need to carry out an urgent review of the constitution by the law reform commission to look into the problem of citizenship by birth. Many children are being reduced to the status of stateless persons without their knowledge. It is when they reach maturity age and start to look for national documents when they are confronted with their statelessness. State parties should be urged to put an end to any legal provision which has the effect of making a person stateless. This is all the more necessary when all regions in particular and the continent as a whole are heading towards integration. The children should have the primary benefit of being a citizen of any African country where they are born pending the granting of sub-regional and continental citizenship.