2022 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 4(1) well established that young children require supportive nurturing and stable care, including when exposed to threats. For too many children who are effectively stateless, the risks of separation from their parents or caregivers, lack of access to basic health, nutrition, education and protection services for both child and caregiver and the daily stressors that emerge from the lived experience of insecurity are potential adverse early experiences, impacting development and potentially resulting in lifelong detrimental outcomes.62 We recommend three critical actions to that ensure the rights of young children are upheld. Firstly, to provide for universal access to birth registration, as outlined in the UN Sustainable Development Goal Target 16.9; ‘legal identity for all, including birth registration’.63 Secondly, to assure equal access to maternal, newborn and child health care, nutrition and education, regardless of the nationality of the child’s parents or place of birth, ethnicity or special needs, as well as the facilitation of naturalisation. Thirdly, to support the campaigns of UNHCR, and that of other UN and global agencies, to end statelessness by 2024. Given the lifelong impacts on health, learning and productivity from risk exposure in early years, including the psychological risks from the experience of statelessness, it is imperative to act on behalf of young children who are stateless. 62 63 Nelson et al (n 13). ‘Sustainable Development Goal 16’, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform (Web Page, 2015) <https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg16>. 162