AHMR African Human Mobilty Review - Volume 8 No 3, SEP-DEC 2022 regardless of citizenship or immigration status.34 Denying healthcare as a means of exclusion is not in the interest of public health. Comprehensive information about population statistics, vital events and health information like immunisation status or infection history are in the public interest.35 Statelessness can also drive insecurity and displacement. While deprivation of nationality in Southern Africa has not escalated to state conflict, nationality disputes have escalated to violent conflict in other parts of the continent and the world.36 Nationality disputes and xenophobic behaviours have caused diplomatic tensions in the region. These could worsen if countries continue to weaponise nationality against people from neighbouring countries. As evidenced in South Africa, where xenophobic violence has led to major destruction and spikes in crime, exclusion and xenophobia pose very real security threats and inspire crime and insecurity. Furthermore, evidence has repeatedly proven that there is no correlation between crime and immigration status.37 ‘Foreignising’ criminality distracts from real criminal and security issues and inhibits states’ abilities and willingness to address crime. Lack of representation in civil and political affairs, lack of pathways for upward mobility, disenfranchisement and economic insecurity are driving forces of unrest and insecurity. Statelessness exposes vulnerable people, including children, to harmful practices, including child trafficking, child labour, sexual exploitation, early marriage, illegal adoption, and child military conscription.38 Strong civil registration contains inherent security properties. Governments benefit substantially from better documenting their populations. A state does not have knowledge of or jurisdiction over people if they are undocumented and unaccounted for. People without names, nationalities or birth dates are difficult to investigate and bring to justice. National security improves when governments document their populations effectively. VII. CONCLUSION Exclusionary politics have been the mainstay of African politics since colonialism. Colonial powers used violence to ‘divide and conquer,’ creating and reinforcing racial, ethnic, and tribal clashes and subjugating native inhabitants for settlers’ benefit. In its wake, nations promised to embody human rights for all and empower natives. In some cases, there has instead been a rise in xenophobia and nationalism as an emerging form of political exclusion that repeats previous discrimination but with Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI) ‘Stateless in a global pandemic’ Impact Report (2020), available at https:// files.institutesi.org/Covid19_Stateless_Impact_Report.pdf 35 The Hague & WISER op cit note 21. 36 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) ‘The state of the world’s refugees: A humanitarian agenda’ (1997), available at www.unhcr.org/3eb7ba7d4.pdf 37 Loren Landau ‘The foreign invasion? How the anti-immigrant backlash makes us all unsafe’ News 24 (18 August 2019), available at www.news24.com/Analysis/analysis-the-foreign-invasion-how-the-anti-immigrant-backlash-makes-us-allunsafe-20190818 38 ACERWC op cit note 24. 34 92