Leaving No One Behind: Statelessness and the Sustainable Development Goals Knowledge of statelessness is low among development professionals, whether in government departments or international agencies, and they are therefore also likely to have a limited sense of the ways in which development actors can ensure that stateless persons are included within broader programming and contribute to the resolution of statelessness. This report makes the case for why this should change. A rights-based approach to development underlies all of the interventions proposed, with an emphasis on universal rights, equality, non-discrimination, participation and inclusion, accountability and the rule of law. 1.2 Outline of the report This report considers two main questions: • Why is statelessness relevant to development? • How can statelessness be integrated into development programming? Following this introduction, Chapter 2 provides a brief introduction to statelessness. Chapter 3 establishes why statelessness is an important development issue and considers the importance of the right to a nationality within a rights-based approach to development. It analyses the impact of statelessness in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals, with particular reference to poverty, health and education, and peace and security, at the level of the individual, the community and the State. It also considers the cross-cutting impact of discrimination and legal identity in relation to these issues. It concludes that the SDG commitment to “leave no one behind” is predicated on the eradication of statelessness. Chapter 4 considers how to integrate steps towards ending statelessness and protecting stateless persons into development strategies. The chapter first considers risk mitigation, in order to “do no harm” in relation to stateless persons, then looks at measures to ensure the inclusion of stateless persons within development initiatives (with a focus on programmes to identify and protect stateless persons) and finally addresses support for the prevention and reduction of statelessness. The final Chapter 6 provides recommendations for UNHCR and development actors. 13