Constitution of Gabon
The Constitution of Gabon is the basic law governing Gabon. It was adopted in 1961, rewritten in 1991 and last revised in 2011.
External linksConstitution of Gabon
Gabon
Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: R ...
, as amended; the Gabonese Nationality Code, and its revisions; and various international agreements to which the country is a signatory. These laws determine who is, or is eligible to be, a national of Gabon. The legal means to acquire nationality, formal legal membership in a nation, differ from the domestic relationship of rights and obligations between a national and the nation, known as citizenship. Nationality describes the relationship of an individual to the state under international law, whereas citizenship is the domestic relationship of an individual within the nation. Gabonese nationality is typically obtained under the principle of
jus soli
''Jus soli'' ( , , ; meaning "right of soil"), commonly referred to as birthright citizenship, is the right of anyone born in the territory of a state to nationality or citizenship.
''Jus soli'' was part of the English common law, in contras ...
, i.e. by birth in Gabon, or of
jus sanguinis
( , , ; 'right of blood') is a principle of nationality law by which citizenship is determined or acquired by the nationality or ethnicity of one or both parents. Children at birth may be citizens of a particular state if either or both of t ...
, born to parents with Gabonese nationality. It can be granted to persons with an affiliation to the country, or to a permanent resident who has lived in the country for a given period of time through naturalization.
Acquisition of nationality
Nationality can be acquired in Gabon at birth or later in life through naturalization.
By birth
Those who acquire nationality at birth include:
* Children born anywhere who have at least one parent who is a Gabonese national of origin;
* Children born in Gabon who would otherwise be stateless; or
* Abandoned children or orphans discovered in the territory whose parents are unknown, but assumed to be Gabonese.
By naturalization
Naturalization can be granted to persons who have resided in the territory for a sufficient period of time to confirm they understand the customs and traditions of the society. General provisions are that applicants have good character and conduct; have no criminal convictions; no serious physical or mental incapacity; and are invested in Gabon. Applicants must typically have resided in the country for five years. Besides foreigners meeting the criteria, other persons who may be naturalized include:
* Children born to foreign nationals in Gabon may apply for nationality at majority;
* Children born in countries neighboring Gabonese territory or who have been raised by Gabonese nationals and resided in the territory for ten years, can opt for Gabonese nationality of origin in the year prior to reaching
majority
A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from #Related terms, related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Websterrenounce their nationality pending approval by the state. Nationals may be
denaturalized
Denaturalization is the loss of citizenship against the will of the person concerned. Denaturalization is often applied to ethnic minorities and political dissidents. Denaturalization can be a penalty for actions considered criminal by the state ...
in Gabon for committing serious crimes; committing crimes against the state or state security; or for fraud, misrepresentation, or concealment in a naturalization petition. Persons who previously had nationality and wish to repatriate must establish residency in the country and apply for reinstatement.
Dual nationality
Dual nationality has been allowed in Gabon since 1962; however, the president is required to be a Gabonese of origin descended of four generations of Gabonese ancestors.
History
Portuguese, African kingdoms period (1474–1839)
In 1472 Portuguese sailor,
Lopes Gonçalves
Lopes Gonçalves or Lopo Gonçalves was a Portuguese explorer of the African coast. He was the first European sailor to cross the equator, the first to reach the point where the coast turns south and the first to reach Gabon. In 1473 or 1474 he ...
sighted the
Gabon Estuary
The Gabon River or Gabon Estuary is a short wide estuary in the west of Gabon. The capital Libreville has a large port on the north bank of the estuary which collects water from the Komo River and River Ebe. The estuary empties into the Gulf of ...
and continued exploring southward from modern-day
Libreville
Libreville is the capital and largest city of Gabon. Occupying in the northwestern province of Estuaire, Libreville is a port on the Komo River, near the Gulf of Guinea. As of the 2013 census, its population was 703,904.
The area has been inh ...
to the cape which bears his name, arriving in 1473 or 1474. Prior to the involvement of Europeans, the Pygmy- and
Bantu
Bantu may refer to:
*Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages
*Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language
*Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle
*Black Association for Nationali ...
-speaking people who had settled in the region did not share a language or develop a common political system. Instead, the mobile societies, which migrated within a few decades, were organized in a
clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship
and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...
-based system. A village headman, who had distinguished himself through prowess in battle, hunting, trade, or rituals was at the top of the social hierarchy. Below him were his dependents, allies, and slaves. Wealth was derived by controlling people, trading wives and dependents as commodities to increase power. By 1600, conflicts had arisen with European trading networks and British, Dutch, and French merchants were trading in the region for slaves and ivory. These encounters transformed the coastal communities into mercantile centers within centralized kingdoms.
By 1700, the Kingdom of Orungu was operating near Cape Lopez and began to dominate the trade in beeswax, copal, dye materials, ebony, and ivory. By 1760, the Orungu were engaged in the slave trade, but primarily as purchasers of slaves from the Dutch, rather than sellers of slaves. They increasingly implemented taxation schemes and by the mid-eighteenth century had become one of the dominant kingdoms of the coast. The Mpongwe chiefs, who had been pushed to their north, in the Gabon Estuary during the previous century, were actively engaged as middlemen between trading networks. Vying for control of key trading outposts, the African kingdoms came into conflict with each other, forcing some of the clans to move inward from the coast to take refuge in more remote forested areas. At the turn of the nineteenth century, Brazilian, Portuguese and Spanish slave traders increased their involvement in the slave trade as the British, Dutch, and French withdrew. Both British and French patrol boats guarded the coast to protect trade routes and halt slaving.
French period (1839–1960)
In 1839, French admiral, Édouard Bouët-Willaumez, signed a commercial treaty with the headmen along the coast hoping to gain benefits of trade as well as agricultural land to be developed. Continuing with treaty making over the next several years, he signed treaties with most of the headmen in the Gabon Estuary. In 1848, Bouët-Willaumez established the foundations of Libreville and the following year brought a group of slaves liberated from a Dutch ship to work as wage laborers on the nearby plantations. The site would become the first colonial capital and military outpost in Gabon. By 1885, the slave trade had been replaced by commerce in dye-making plants, ivory, and rubber. Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza was appointed commissioner general of France's possessions of French Congo and Gabon in 1886. In 1891, the two colonies were incorporated into one entity and in 1894 de Brazza granted a large concession to the French trading house of
Chad
Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...
under French Congo's commissioner general at
Brazzaville
Brazzaville (, kg, Kintamo, Nkuna, Kintambo, Ntamo, Mavula, Tandala, Mfwa, Mfua; Teke: ''M'fa'', ''Mfaa'', ''Mfa'', ''Mfoa''Roman Adrian Cybriwsky, ''Capital Cities around the World: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture'', ABC-CLI ...
. Gabon was granted a lieutenant-governor in Libreville to oversee its administration. In 1910, these colonies were federated into French Equatorial Africa.
In 1848, slavery was abolished throughout the French Empire and the
Civil Code
A civil code is a codification of private law relating to property, family, and obligations.
A jurisdiction that has a civil code generally also has a code of civil procedure. In some jurisdictions with a civil code, a number of the core ar ...
was extended to all of the French citizens in the colonies. Under the Civil Code, women were legally incapacitated and paternal authority was established over their children. Upon marriage, a woman married to a French man automatically acquired the same nationality as her spouse. Illegitimate children were barred from inheritance and nationality could only be transmitted through a father. Non-citizen nationals were governed by traditional laws concerning marriage and inheritance which placed the well-being of the community above individual rights. These laws prevented a wife from being treated as a slave, required her husband to support her, and entitled her kin to a bride price, to compensate them for the loss of her fertility to their kinship group and secure the legality of the union. Having paid the price for the marriage contract, she and her offspring belonged to the kinship network of her husband and could be inherited if her husband died.
The French Nationality Law of 1889 codified previous statutory laws, changing the French standard from ''jus sanguinis'' to ''jus soli'' and was extended to the
French West Indies
The French West Indies or French Antilles (french: Antilles françaises, ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Antiy fwansez) are the parts of France located in the Antilles islands of the Caribbean:
* The two overseas departments of:
** Guadeloupe, ...
. Under its terms, women who would become stateless by the rule to acquire their spouse's nationality were allowed to retain their French nationality upon marriage. The Nationality Law was modified in 1897 when it was extended to the remainder of the French colonies. Clarification in the 1897 decree included that bestowing nationality by birth in French territory only applied to children born in France, restoring descent requirements for the colonies. Under the
(Code of Indigenous Status) promulgated for Algeria in 1881 and extended to French Equatorial Africa in 1910, nationals in the new colonies followed customary law. On 23 May 1912, a decree was issued specifically addressing the status of French Equatorial Africans. Under its terms, native persons born in Equatorial Africa were nationals of France but not citizens and were subject to the Indigenous Code. Upon reaching the age of twenty-one, they could be naturalized; however, the law was explicit that neither a wife nor the children of a naturalized Equatorial African automatically derived his French nationality. Only if the spouses were married under French law and the children registered in the Civil Registry could they acquire the status of the husband or father. To naturalize Equatorial Africans had to be able to both read and write French and had to have served in the French military service or have been decorated with the
French West Africa
French West Africa (french: Afrique-Occidentale française, ) was a federation of eight French colonial territories in West Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan (now Mali), French Guinea (now Guinea), Ivory Coast, Upper Volta (now Burki ...
levirate marriage
Levirate marriage is a type of marriage in which the brother of a deceased man is obliged to marry his brother's widow. Levirate marriage has been practiced by societies with a strong clan structure in which exogamous marriage (i.e. marriage out ...
. With the passage of the 1958 French Constitution, nationality provisions were standardized for France, Overseas Departments, and Overseas Territories. Article 86 excluded the possibility for independence of the colonies. The French Constitution was amended on 1960 to allow states to maintain membership in the Community even if they were independent republics. In July 1960, negotiations in Paris set terms for independence and a transfer of power.
Post-independence (1960–present)
Gabon attained its independence on 17 August 1960. Those who acquired Gabonese nationality on that date included any person domiciled in Gabon including their children and spouse. However, those not born in Gabon had to apply for confirmation by registering with the head of state their intent to remain in Gabon. On 2 March 1962, the Gabonese Nationality Code (Loi No. 89-61) came into effect. It proclaimed that after independence, nationality was acquired by being born to at least one parent of Gabonese origin, unless one of the parents had diplomatic immunity. The law required foreign women to acquire the nationality of her Gabonese spouse upon marriage, unless before or during the ceremony she declared an intent to retain her nationality of origin. It did not require Gabonese women marrying foreigners to lose their nationality upon marriage, but allowed them to renounce their nationality in favor of that of their husband. Under its provisions dual nationality was permitted. Article 10, was modified in 1965 by ordinance (No. 25/PR) to provide nationality for those who at independence were not domiciled in Gabon, but were born to Gabonese parents. Article 40 was amended in 1968 via ordinance (No. 35/68) to provide for fees to process naturalization and denaturalization petitions, and Article 24 was amended (Loi No. 5-73) in 1973.
The 1962 Nationality Code was repealed in 1998 with the passage of a new nationality code (Loi No. 37-1998). Basic acquisition of nationality at birth did not change and was acquired from having Gabonese parentage. The new law contained a provision that children who were born in bordering states, who had been living with a Gabonese parent prior to their fifteenth birthday or were receiving state assistance and had resided in Gabon for 10 years, could acquire Gabonese nationality by declaration in the year before reaching majority. It contains gender discrimination in that for children born out of wedlock and abroad to Gabonese mothers, nationality can only be acquired by completing an administrative process, which is not required of children born in the same circumstances to Gabonese fathers. However, the 1998 Nationality Code allows spouses to equally attain nationality from their Gabonese husband or wife.