The Role of Colonialism in Creating and Perpetuating Statelessness in Southern Africa for how they contribute to ongoing inequalities and discrimination.29 Far more work is required to sensitise societies that many people are perpetuating the very tactics previously used against themselves or their own ancestors and family members. Unfortunately, because statelessness is a forgotten issue and stateless people are invisible, they lack advocates to raise awareness of the costs. VI. COSTS TO SOCIETY Nationalism does not resolve social issues. It has proven successful in rallying political support, but increases long-term risks and problems.30 Creating and perpetuating statelessness does not resolve any root issues of social discontent; it worsens them. Some of the costs include development, health, and security. Statelessness deepens inequality and creates challenges to achieving development goals. Nationality is a key element to achieve all development goals, including economic growth, peaceful and inclusive societies, equality, and access to education.31 Statelessness further threatens the ability to measure progress. Low-income countries are under pressure to demonstrate results and promote accountability against development goals.32 It is impossible to assess how well a country or community is achieving development goals locally or regionally without accurate statistics that preclude large numbers of undocumented and unaccountedfor people. Adequately informed statistics and measurements are crucial to development. No country or population within the region can develop independently. A country is most stable and prosperous if its surrounding countries are stable and prosperous. Regional cooperation is required. Subjugating and exposing fellow Africans to statelessness and preventing them from reaching their full potential hamper national and regional development. Poor living conditions, displacement, and lack of access to services make stateless populations particularly vulnerable to health issues, including communicable diseases. The COVID-19 pandemic provided a stark reminder that public health affects all of society. COVID-19 disproportionately impacted the most economically disadvantaged communities and stateless people were excluded from or struggled to access vaccines.33 People living outside the scope of state-sponsored health services and in subpar conditions have low immunisation rates and are vulnerable to infectious diseases. It is in the collective interest to ensure everyone has access to healthcare, United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) ‘Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada Al-Nashif – Address to UN Human Rights Council Interactive Dialogue on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples’ (28 September 2022), available at www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/09/acting-high-commissioner-addressing-legacies-colonialism-can-contribute 30 Ottilia Maunganidze ‘The “illegal migrant” red herring’ ISS Today (24 October 2018), available at https://issafrica.org/ iss-today/the-illegal-migrant-red-herring 31 Tendayi Bloom Bronwen Manby & Khadija Badri ‘Why citizenship is relevant to sustainable development: Considerations for the 2019 High Level Political Forum’ European Network on Statelessness (May 2019). 32 The Hague & WISER op cit note 21. 33 Mkhululi Chimoio ‘COVID-19: Vaccinating stateless people in South Africa’ Africa Renewal (21 January 2022), available at www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/february-2022/covid-19-vaccinating-stateless-people-south-africa 29 91