Conclusion A key theme that emerges from these examples is that many efforts to prevent statelessness benefit from consultation and collaboration between governments, inter-governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, community groups and, of course, stateless people themselves. Governments should not shy away from consultation and collaboration, but should take the opportunity to learn from people who have direct experience of statelessness, and those who advocate for them, to design the most effective laws, policies and programmes to prevent childhood statelessness. Another important theme is that details matter. For measures to prevent or remedy statelessness to be effective, they should take into account the wide-ranging realities of stateless people, which are often harsh and multi-faceted. Remedies should be designed to take into account that stateless people may distrust authorities, due to years of negative experiences. They may not have any documents and may be unable to obtain any. They may be suffering from frustration, depression or other mental health conditions. They may be physically unwell due to lack of adequate health care, food, housing and security. They may be illiterate, lack knowledge of certain aspects of society, or lack experience with technology due to being excluded from education. They may have been living in poverty for extended periods, sometimes for generations, and be unable to travel to government offices or pay even small fees. They may struggle to find employment, having been prohibited from working. They might not identify themselves as stateless. They may need specialist interpreters, and they often need legal advisors who specialize in statelessness and nationality issues. On the other hand, some stateless people are very well-educated and speak multiple languages. They may have had a nationality of which they have been deprived. They may have had successful careers and are very capable of explaining their statelessness and advocating for themselves and others. All these factors, and more, affect how laws and procedures should be designed to be accessible to all stateless people (and in the case of children, their parents and others responsible for ensuring their best interests are fulfilled). Despite the complexities of statelessness, sometimes relatively simple changes do make a huge difference. For example, eliminating fees, providing application forms in multiple languages, waiving requirements for documents or tests, introducing policies that promote flexibility in favour of stateless people, arranging for statelessness and nationality experts to deliver training for officials, and various other measures can be accomplished relatively easily and have a big impact. Other solutions may be more complex or costly, but are still achievable through collaborative efforts. 66