Leaving No One Behind: Statelessness and the Sustainable Development Goals services depends on recognition as a national of that country (for example, a national identity card must be presented), specific measures will be needed to overcome the exclusion of stateless persons – by waiving identity document requirements and/or facilitating access to the required documents (whether by providing legal assistance to overcome bureaucratic barriers to recognition of existing nationality or by enabling nationality to be acquired). This is likely to be more necessary as the services to which access is sought progress from primary to secondary and tertiary level. Programming should also consider presumptions of foreignness as the form of discrimination most likely to affect stateless persons and, where relevant, seek to question those presumptions. In particular, is it the case that the individual or group excluded from access to services on the grounds of not being a national in fact holds nationality in another country? Is denial of nationality based on discrimination that is not permitted in law? In the context of the SDGs, UNDP proposes five factors that help us to understand “who is being left behind and why”:186 discrimination, place of residence, lack of good governance, socioeconomic status and vulnerability to shocks and fragility (see box (I)). This checklist could equally help to identify exclusion based on statelessness or lack of a documented nationality, and the vulnerabilities that result. ! I) Who is being left behind and why: five key factors 1. Discrimination: what biases, exclusion or mistreatment do people face based on one or more aspect of their identity (ascribed or assumed), notably including gender, ethnicity, age, class, disability, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, migratory status, etc.? 2. Geography: who endures isolation, vulnerability, lacking or inferior public services or other infrastructure gaps (transportation, Internet access etc.) due to their place of residence? 3. Governance: where do people face disadvantage due to ineffective, unjust, unaccountable or unresponsive global, national and/or sub-national institutions? Who is affected by inequitable, inadequate or unjust laws, policies, processes or budgets? Who is less able or unable to gain influence or participate meaningfully in the decisions that impact them? 4. Socioeconomic status: who faces deprivation or disadvantages in terms of income, life expectancy and educational attainment? Who has less chance of staying healthy and being nourished and educated; competing in the labour market; acquiring wealth and/or benefiting from quality health care, clean water, sanitation, energy, social protection and financial services? 5. Shocks and fragility: who is more exposed and/or vulnerable to setbacks due to the impacts of climate change, natural hazards, violence, conflict, displacement, health emergencies, economic downturns and price or other shocks? 186. UNDP, “What does it mean to leave no one behind?” (New York: United Nations, August 2018), www.undp.org/publications/what-does-it-mean-leaveno-one-behind. 49