German Law Journal 1643 now been widely adopted as a motivating slogan at national level for the post-COVID-19 era. While this article focuses on a preliminary scoping out of how the pandemic’s effects are heightened by existing inequalities and vulnerabilities, it also sets the scene for further research as the world moves through the various phases of the pandemic towards, it is hoped, better therapies, a raft of effective vaccines, an improved understanding of risky behaviors and the trade-offs involved, including for mental health, and finally a comprehensive economic recovery for all sectors of society and parts of the globe. C. The Impact of COVID-19 on Citizenship as Legal Status The effective operation of a citizenship regime is dependent not just upon constitutional norms and legislative measures but also on a literate and comprehensive bureaucratic apparatus that can ensure that life-course milestones such as births, marriages, and deaths are properly documented. These measures—especially birth registration and the provision of identity documentation, which often depends upon accurate and timely birth registration—are what give meaning to any constitutional commitment to the right to citizenship or constitutional mandate for the avoidance of statelessness. While delays in birth registration have been common in many countries during the pandemic,45 in some countries non-registration at the time of birth could translate into lifelong statelessness and inability to prove identity for the purposes of schooling, healthcare, employment, and access to other public goods. For those whose position is already precarious, or in countries where birth registration is not fully established, the impact of the pandemic is liable to amplify existing inequalities. Although the pandemic may not generate substantial new incidences of statelessness, there is no doubt that being stateless and thus lacking the safe harbor of citizenship and the rights attached to it can be a significant aggravating factor in relation to the impact of the pandemic. This has motivated considerable efforts on the part of international public authorities and especially nongovernmental organizations focused on the elimination of statelessness to try and map in detail where there are “pinch-points” in the system, for example, because of interferences with ongoing civil registration work or disruptions to asylum and statelessness determination procedures.46 These problems may leave large numbers of people in limbo with the result that they are more likely to be deprived of rights in relation to health care, access to socio-economic support in host countries, and rights to civic and political participation. Furthermore, if societies are turning increasingly inward then there is potential for increase in discriminatory and xenophobic practices and incidences of hate and even violence against vulnerable and marginalized communities. The very “hidden” nature of statelessness can be a strong exacerbating factor in increasing exclusion and vulnerability, for example, making it easier for these groups to be missed during vaccine rollouts, whether accidentally or intentionally.47 Rhona Smith, “Building Back Better”–Obligations Behind the Soundbite, U.K. CONST. L. ASSOC. (Mar. 10, 2021) https://ukconstitutionallaw.org/2021/03/10/rhona-smith-building-back-better-obligations-behind-the-soundbite/; Rhona Smith, Building Back Better and Being Prepared: Lessons from COVID-19, OPINIO JURIS (Apr. 9, 2021), https://opiniojuris.org/2021/ 04/09/building-back-better-and-being-prepared-lessons-from-covid-19. 45 Carla Abou Zahr, Martin Bratschi, Emily Cercone, Anushka Mangharam, Don de Savigny, Irina Dincu, Anette Bayer Forsingdal, Olga Joos, Montasser Kamal, Doris Ma Fat, Gloria Mathenge, Fatima Marinho, Raj Gautam Mitra, Jeff Montgomery, William Muhwava, Remy Mwamba, James Mwanza, Alvin Onaka, Tanja Sejersen, Maletela Touane-Nkhasi, Lynn Sferraazza, & Philip Setel, The COVID-19 Pandemic: Effects on Civil Registration of Births and Deaths and on Availability and Utility of Vital Events Data, 111 AM. J. PUB. HEALTH 1123 (2021). 46 See Impact Report, INST. ON STATELESSNESS AND INCLUSION, STATELESS IN A PANDEMIC (2020), https://www.institutesi. org/pages/covid19_and_statelessness; Together We Can: The COVID-19 Impact on Stateless People & a Roadmap for Change, INST. ON STATELESSNESS AND INCLUSION, (2021), https://www.institutesi.org/resources/together-we-can-report. 47 See Greece’s Discriminatory Vaccination Practices Render Asylum Seekers Seriously Vulnerable, EURO-MEDITERRANEAN HUMAN RIGHTS MONITOR (Mar. 22, 2021), https://reliefweb.int/report/greece/greece-s-discriminatory-vaccination-practicesrender-asylum-seekers-seriously. See also Marie Claire Van Hout, Charlotte Bigland, & Nina Murray, Scoping the Impact of https://doi.org/10.1017/glj.2021.77 Published online by Cambridge University Press