Cameroon

In 2017, the CRC noted that Cameroon places additional conditions on children born out of wedlock to acquire Cameroonian nationality. For example, for a child born out of wedlock to be recognized this must be established by court decision and inscribed as a marginal note on the birth certificate. There is also a procedure through which a presumptive father can declare paternity before a civil registrar during birth registration following the consent of the mother and in the presence of two witnesses. Another procedure allows for the court to search for the real father, but according to the Cameroonian civil status legislation, if during the legal period of conception the mother had intercourse with another man or if the alleged father was physically unfit to be the father, the search would be rejected. These additional conditions for recognition of children born outside of wedlock create challenges for acquiring nationality for children of Cameroonian fathers and non-Cameroonian mothers.