A/HRC/7/23 page 17 52. Among numerous long-standing situations in Africa is the insecure nationality status of the Banyamulenge, a minority group considered to be of Tutsi origin, resident in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 1972, a presidential decree granted citizenship to all of Rwandan or Burundian origin who had settled in the country before 1950. In 1981, this law was replaced with another, which based citizenship rights on descent from the population resident in the territory in 1885, making it almost impossible for the Banyamulenge to retain citizenship. The recent peace process led to the enactment of a new nationality law in 2004 which, together with the 2005 Constitution, again recognized the Banyamulenge as Congolese nationals on the basis of their historic residence in the country. In order for these amendments to achieve their potential, including in regard to stability in the region, implementation must be a priority. Members of the Banyamulenge minority reportedly continue to be the subject of discriminatory treatment and ethnic tensions on this basis. 53. The independent expert was also presented with information concerning adherents of the Baha’i faith in Egypt who are reportedly not recognized as a religious minority and experience difficulties obtaining identity cards necessary to prove citizenship. Without valid identity cards, Baha’is are said to encounter difficulties in registering their children in school, opening bank accounts, establishing businesses and gaining access to government services, including education and employment. Preventing the Baha’is from officially identifying themselves as such violates their right to the protection of their minority identity, a problem which is replicated in other countries in which they are a religious minority, particularly in the Islamic Republic of Iran. In January 2008, the Court of Administrative Justice in Cairo reportedly upheld arguments made in two cases concerning Baha’is seeking to restore their full citizenship rights by requesting permission to leave the religious affiliation field blank on official documents. The Government is urged to implement this ruling. 54. According to information presented at the expert consultation, members of the Nubian minority in Kenya are, on the basis of their ethnicity and their perceived identification with the colonial power, reportedly denied their right to Kenyan nationality, despite the fact that Nubians have lived in Kenya for more than 100 years and individuals meet criteria for Kenyan citizenship under the Constitution. They are prevented from voting and standing for office, claiming employment and owning land. Nubians are not recognized as an ethnic group and are categorized only as “other Kenyan”. Consequently, Nubians have been discriminated against in the registration and issuance of identity documents. To acquire identity documents, they are reportedly required to produce their parents’ and their grandparents’ birth certificates, conditions that are not made on members of other groups. Discriminatory treatment is considered to be based on the notion that the community is not indigenous to Kenya; the Government claims that Nubians living in the country are foreigners who have not renounced their Sudanese citizenship. 55. In 1989, on the basis of tensions between pastoralists and farmers, the Government of Mauritania deprived approximately 70,000 minority black Mauritanians their Mauritanian nationality and expelled them en masse to Senegal and Mali. About 20,000 remain in Senegal, living in camps with refugee status. Positive developments are now under way since, with the support and collaboration of UNHCR, the Government initiated in 2007 a process of voluntary