Leaving No One Behind: Statelessness and the Sustainable Development Goals Designing (digital) identity systems to resolve statelessness Initiatives to support the implementation of new digital or biometric identification systems should pay particular attention to the need to “do no harm”. As noted above (heading in Chapter 3: Legal identity, statelessness and development), the introduction of new national identity systems is a known danger point for the creation of statelessness. On the other hand, the creation of a new identification system offers a rare opportunity to resolve the situation of stateless persons, especially where mass registration campaigns are being conducted. It is also an opportunity to put in place new mechanisms for determination of the status of those whose nationality is in doubt, as well as to improve the collection of administrative data to identify those at risk of statelessness; for example, by recording the reasons for which an application for registration with a particular status has been refused. Development agencies supporting identification initiatives are already paying attention to the risks of exclusion inherent in the adoption of new identification systems. • The World Bank led the process of developing “Principles on Identification for Sustainable Development”, emphasizing non-discrimination as the first principle.246 • UNDP has developed a Model Governance Framework for Digital Legal Identity Systems that provides guidance on aspects of the design of digital legal identity systems that addresses many of the issues raised in this report, including non-discrimination and respect for the rule of law.247 • Other guidance on design of inclusive digital identification systems is also becoming available, for example from the OECD and from the OpenID Foundation (endorsed, among others, by UNHCR).248 Among the key elements of such principles are the importance of independent oversight to ensure that principles of non-discrimination and the rule of law (see above) are respected in practice. This could include the establishment of dedicated independent identification authorities.249 New identification systems are often paired with new requirements to present the new identity credential in order to access public services. Those who have not enrolled in the new system face new risks of exclusion. Planning for upgraded identification systems should consider these risks and provide for access to services to be possible in the interim, with referral to assistance to resolve a person’s status. This assistance should include support for independent paralegal and legal advice to assist applicants in meeting the requirements of an application process and, in particular to resolve any doubts about nationality status. If a person without the correct identity documents seeks to access public services on behalf of themselves or a child, this should be seen as an opportunity not for refusing services to which they otherwise appear to be entitled, but rather to resolve the lack of registration into the new (or indeed old) system. In this way, as services are accessed, backlogs in identification would also be addressed, reducing and preventing current and future statelessness. The adoption of new biometric and digital systems for recording legal identity is also an opportunity to design systems so that they identify the need for the status of certain people to be resolved by flagging cases that are stuck for referral to legal and other assistance, and resolution by the competent authority, rather than simply rejecting their application for enrolment in the system or refusing services because the new credential has not been acquired. 246. World Bank, "Principles on identification for sustainable development: toward the digital age (English)", World Bank Group (Washington, D.C, 2022), http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/213581486378184357. 247. The different sections of the framework are: Equality and non-discrimination; Accountability and the rule of law; Legal and regulatory framework; Capable institutions; Data Protection and Privacy; User value; Procurement & anti-corruption; and Participation and access to information. “UNDP Model governance framework for digital legal identity systems” (UNDP, 2023), www.governance4id.org/. These principles were also incorporated into UNDP's Universal Digital Public Infrastructure Safeguards Framework, released in 2024 and available at: https://www.dpi-safeguards.org/. 248. “OECD Recommendation on the governance of digital identity” (OECD, June 2023), www.oecd.org/governance/digital-government/oecdrecommendation-on-the-governance-of-digital-identity.htm; “Human-centric digital identity: for government officials” (OpenID Foundation, September 2023), https://openid.net/human-centric-digital-identity-whitepaper/. These principles were also incorporated into UNDP's Universal Digital Public Infrastructure Safeguards Framework, released in 2024 and available at: https://www.dpi-safeguards.org/ 249. On governance structures, see “ID authority and governance structure” in World Bank, “ID4D Practitioner’s guide”, Identification for Development Initiative (Washington, D.C., June 2019), https://id4d.worldbank.org/guide; “UNDP Model governance framework”. 61